First Time Away

Today marks a big milestone!  It’s our first time leaving the kiddos!  Michelle and I are on our way Denver for four days and the kiddos are staying with Grandma Stephen!  Now, we aren’t exactly going on vacation per se, since it’s for the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association conference, but it’s still four days and four nights of not being responsible for three little people.  And our friends Marty and Carrie are flying in from Seattle to connect with us and keep me company while Michelle is busy networking and presenting four posters. We did one poster together, which is how I justified tagging along for this trip. =)

Originally I just wasn’t going to go, but we thought maybe it was time for us to give it a try!  So Michelle called her mom and somehow convinced her that she could take on this challenge!  We thought maybe we would fly Denise down to State College so the kiddos could just be home, but then we looked at flights and it would’ve been almost $2000 for our flights plus Denise’s so in the end we opted to drive up to Chicago and fly from there.  Denise has been recruiting help and when she told her best friend from high school that she was going to be watching the triplets, Marie offered to fly out to help!  The kiddos are excited about seeing Marie, who we stayed with on our weekend in Connecticut this summer.  And Auntie Tracy, Auntie Jess, and Grandpa will all be chipping in to help too! 

I’m going to be very interested to see how we all handle this new experience.  I think I’m probably most nervous for Denise!  She is going to be exhausted by the time we get back on Sunday!  Michelle and I are doing well so far.  I will admit I got a little misty eyed putting them down for nap today knowing I wouldn’t see them for four days.  The only time I’ve been away from them is one night when I had my hysterectomy last summer!  Michelle went to this same conference last fall so she’s been away before, but she knew I was still there with them.  While we waiting in the security line Michelle and I were theorizing about which of the kiddos would likely have the hardest time with us being away and we both put our money on Avery.  That being said, they are all VERY excited to see Grandma and the rest of the family so they might not miss us a bit. =)  I’m guessing the toughest times for them will be bedtime and first thing in the morning, but we’ll see!  I know Grandma has a lot of fun things planned for the kiddos while we’re gone!  I’m hoping they can find a little time to Facetime with us!

Michelle and I will be challenged to balance enjoying the time with our friends and taking advantage of the time to sleep!  We started off the trip with a delicious taco & tequila dinner with Marty. =)