Well, we made it to 2012! There were a few times over the past few months I wondered who would survive; Sid and I or the kids... yes, it was an either/or proposition more than a few times. Luckily, Mother Nature really knows what she is doing... just when things looked the darkest, those cute little buggers started smiling, and have hardly stopped! Just the other day, I came into the nursery in the morning to get the kids up (after they slept all night...YAY!), and little Caitlin didn't see me at first. As she lazily moved her head over and spotted me, I was watching her.... I actually laughed out loud at her reaction... she did a double take (like "am I dreaming?"), and then broke out into the biggest smile I have seen her have as yet, and started shaking her hands and feet in joy! I'm sure she was happy to see me, but I think she also probably wanted to get the heck out of the crib also! Riley has been a little smile monster also, all of a sudden - we can't call him the "Grumpy Old Man" anymore - he is always smiling! Little Kelsie has had a rough few months - she had some congestion due to underdeveloped/small windpipes, and just when she started to grow out of that, she started chronic spitting-up... pretty bad. We no sooner got her on some medication to control that, and she came down with a cold... and promptly shared that with her brother... (I knew that would happen soon, as Kelsie is in the middle in the shared crib, so it was bound to travel both ways). Even with all of that, our little trooper is powering through it all, and her smile lights up her whole face. It's so nice to see her smile after a few rough obstacles to overcome, we finally feel like she feels up to growing and developing like her siblings, rather than having to focus so hard on trying to feel good.
Sid and I are hanging in there... like we have a choice! We had LOTS of family come visit us over the holidays, and they helped a lot. We also have come to rely on our wonderfuly "Nanny Dani" - Danielle - more and more every day. After spending several days with the kids all day long over the holidays, I definitely can appreciate what Danielle faces daily...although she can go home at night and sleep through the night, which helps I'm sure.
We are continually surprised by all of the people that ask "do you think you will keep in contact with your surrogate", or people that are surprised when they hear that we are in almost daily contact. HELL YES, I want to scream... this woman, and her family, sacrificed a lot for us, and we all become very close. Yes, surrogates are compensated - but YOU try carrying triplets (over 15# of them prior to delivery no less) and then tell us if any compensation is REALLY enough! So yes, in a nutshell, we hope that Heidi and her family are in our lives for the rest of our lives - and maybe longer if the kids bond and carry on relationships after we are gone.
One of our most difficult challenges these days is trying to get ANYTHING done, especially taking, reviewing, downloading, and posting pictures. We feel so bad that we haven't done more to "document" these first few months. However, if a choice between caring for them or documenting their lives, well, of course they come first! This is why the present that Heidi gave us on New Years day was so special. She painstakingly reviewed 1,000's of photos and made a video montage with music about our Journey toward parenthood. It is nothing short of AMAZING !! Please check out the link below, but be warned, have kleenex handy!
