Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and everything else we've missed!

OK, I'm back! I know it's been awhile,but I can explain. If you could watch our three moving around-- nearly running everywhere, telling us baby-talk story after story, singing, dancing, sometimes rockin' out, you'd see why I haven't updated. It's like the funny farm here and although it is enjoyable, it's tiring, too, and there isn't much free time. Not that that's a great excuse. There's Octomom out there and I've seen her in photos out shopping, so okay, I admit it, I'm just really lazy.

Christmas was really nice and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Granny was here and Gram and Poppy, too, and then the day after we celebrated again with Uncle Brian, Aunt Colleen, and Sean and Sammy! Santa even arrived before we went out to dinner on Christmas Eve. (I hear the gasp when I said went out to dinner, and we learned we won't be doing that again) The kids tried really hard but restaurants just aren't for triplets age 1 1/2. As an aside, an anonymous patron at the restaurant paid $120 of the total tab because they were admiring our family. On second thought, triplets do belong in restaurants, and shopping malls and other places that cost money!

I asked Griffin what Santa said and he looked at me and quietly said, "Ho, Ho, Ho." Sounded a bit like, "Who, Who, Who." I guess all the Christmas books we'd been reading got the point across. They LOVE their books right now. They bring us the books over and over again and we read them over and over again. Most I can recite now -- which is really helpful if I'm holding them because I don't have to turn the pages. Board books are the only kind we can read because they eat or rip regular books. I'm looking forward to the day when everything doesn't go into the mouth! What I'm learning about toddlers: They are DESTRUCTIVE! If we just let them loose in the house -- which is NOT advisable (or often) at all -- within minutes they find the one cabinet that was left unlock; they open any doors they can; they are attempting to swim in the toilet, dumping laundry soap, throwing chairs on the ground, trying to get into the fireplace. I can only describe it as complete insanity. Needless to say, we don't let them out of their playroom or play yard unless we've lost our minds. They are like three crazy people, mumbling to themselves, drooling and stumbling into walls all while smiling.

Now, I'm not complaining. I find the whole scene comical but it boggles the mind how quickly three little people can scatter and the things they can get into. Braddock has figured out the child-proof locks in the playroom. He just opens the doors and drawers at will and looks over his shoulder, smirking as he does it. They are all so smart. I'm stunned by how much they understand and defeated when I realized how much they chose to ignore my repeated pleas of, "Stop that," "Don't touch that," etc.

Julia is the TV police. If it's on, she shuts it off. I guess she's read the studies that TV isn't exactly great for baby development. She also has joined the boys in their dancing. They all love music, and dancing to "All the Single Ladies" is a new favorite thing to do. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard watching the three of them stop in their tracks as the song starts and just start breaking it down. It's as cute as anything in the world. Among his many skills, Griffin is really into pretend cooking. For Christmas, they got a little cooking set from Santa and he is whisking up things like you cannot believe. And if the whisk is hidden in a toy basket, he'll us a big comb instead. They also got a stove and kitchen set, but Santa never put it together so that will be a surprise gift to help the mid-winter fly by!

We've been relatively healthy, too. Griffin got another cold in early December and was still coughing a little bit at Christmas. He ended up with his nebulizer and steroids but that worked well and he's back to normal. It was the first illness that didn't run its course through all three kids so it made nursing him back to health much easier.

Overall, we're so blessed, and especially at the holidays, we looked at each other and just smiled at how lucky we've been. Three healthy, truly happy babies is more than we could have ever imagined. As a new decade starts, we are looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us. I'm still perplexed about how it's possible that in 2010, Griffin, Braddock and Julia will be two years old. Seriously, time, please, please slow down. Let us keep them little as long as we can.

I'll have holiday pictures as soon as I can. I'm having trouble uploading them this morning and if I wait to post, it may not happen for a while!
Happy New Year,