Random and not-so-random acts of kindness

Michelle and I are continually amazed by the generosity of the community that our children have been born into.  Our families have been so giving of their time and energy, coming to stay with us to help keep us afloat during this first month.  Denise was beyond helpful when she was here during the hospital stay and during our first couple of days at home, making sure we had food and took naps and that all the babies were getting attention when they were split up in the NICU.  Then Auntie Jess swooped into town and became a cloth diaper convert while she was here.  Jess ran a zillion errands and showered each of the babies with love.  Now my mom and dad are here and they each have their specialties.  My mom, Rae, is our laundry goddess;  she came up with a tracking system to make sure the new cloth diapers went through the wash-dry cycle the requisite five times before getting put into the rotation and has probably washed, dried, folded, and put away five loads of baby laundry in the few days she's been here. (three babies who've recently started spitting up more go through a lot of outfits, burp cloths, and linens!)  Mom is also doing a lot of cooking to make sure we have yummy food to eat.  My dad Mark's specialty is house projects.  He is the king of beautifying spaces, both indoor and out.  So he has already made multiple trips to Home Depot getting supplies.  He's currently washing the windows and screens so we can take advantage of the nice views we have on this wooded lot.  He also got rid of all the dead plant life in the garden closest to the house and swept all the leaves off the deck.  Dad is also going to spray all around the exterior of the house for spiders.  I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but in the past week we've had five yucky spiders in our bedroom.  We have a lot of spiders here all the time, but these were the nasty kind with big fat bodies. =(  And worst of all, two of them were in our bed and bit each of us!  Soooo creepy.  The bites were no big deal, thankfully, but still, it's totally creepy and I don't like to think about one of the babies getting bitten.  So hopefully this spray will help with our spider problem.

Our local community, both friends and strangers, have also been great.  Friends have brought meals and run errands for us and many more have offered.  (We will take you all up on those offers, particularly once our family leaves us to fend for ourselves!)  Fran made the best Trader Joes run ever yesterday. =)  I texted her a list that included dark chocolate covered almonds and peanut butter granola bars, having no idea that TJs had so many variations of those two things until she brought us one of each!  Speaking of Trader Joes, I've been meaning to tell you about Barb, our favorite Trader Joes employee.  I think I mentioned this before, but a couple months ago, when Michelle was around 28 weeks (and looking like she was full term), she checked us out and when she learned we were having triplets she was flabbergasted and I think a little overwhelmed for us and handed us a bouquet saying "you'll be too busy to appreciate these when the babies come! Congratulations!" =)  So the other day, on the way home from the pediatrician we stopped by Trader Joes quickly to grab a couple of necessities (read...bacon & dark chocolate sea salt almonds!).  I ran in while Michelle stayed in the car with the babies.  As I was choosing my checkout lane I saw Barb and intentionally went to her lane so I could show her pictures of the babies.  She was so excited when she saw me and said she knew the babies had been born because someone in her lane was talking about us the other day. (Not too many other lesbian couples in State College having triplets so she figured it had to be us!)  I showed her pictures, but also told her if she could sneak out she could peek in at the babies in the car.  She told the guy behind me in line to hold on a sec' and hustled over to the flower display again for another celebratory bouquet. Then she ran back to check him out, all the while looking for a coworker to take over for her.  As soon as she spotted someone she got them to cover saying she had to help a customer out to the car so she could run out for a quick peek.  ;)

We've also been getting packages almost daily from friends of ours from all over and friends of our parents!  We've gotten a bunch of Trader Joes gift cards, which is great since it's our favorite grocery store and definitely helps with the dwindling finances.   In fact, today we got a card in the mail with a Trader Joes gift card from the family of an adorable little boy that I worked with when he was in preschool in St. Louis!  Talk about delayed karma!  What a nice surprise that was.  We've also gotten some packages of late night healthy (Lara bars) and not so healthy (mmmm...Theo chocolate!!) snacks. And of course we've also gotten some cute outfits that I'm sure people just couldn't resist, because let's face it, everyone likes to shop for baby clothes! 

It's also been fun to hear from people who are reading and sharing our blog with others.  My great aunt Nancy's coffee and book club in Illinois has been loyally following our blog, which I think is hilarious and totally awesome.  My mom's hula sisters, lunch group, book club, and college roommates are all avid readers, along with my parents' friends in Wisconsin and Hawaii and current and former coworkers.  Michelle's mom's friends, including her best friend from high school, and her stitch group have also been following along.  The blog has had almost 45,000 page views to date!  We had no idea that our little journey would catch so many people's attention.  I just thought this would be a nice record for our kiddos and a resource for other triplet families!  But it's fun to see the readership grow and to share our story with all of you.

We're trying to keep up with thank you notes, but if yours somehow get lost in the shuffle, please know that we still appreciate each and every gift, favor, errand run, and meal delivered.  Here's a cute picture of each of the babies as a temporary thank you! =)