Thankful for….

Three healthy 18 month olds! The boys had their 18 month check up this morning and I am so grateful to be able to report that everyone is healthy. All 3 met their developmental milestones and passed the autism screening. We will do another autism screen at 24 months but at this point, no signs of any problems – whew. Not that I worried too much about it, but it always crosses my mind when I look at the boys compared to others their age or even to what Chase was capable of at that age. Jason is working on building the ‘comparison chart’ so you can get a sense of how the boys compare to each other at this stage of their lives but here is a quick summary. Jack is 26 pounds and 33 inches. Graham is 24 pounds and 32 inches. Anthony is 25 pounds and 32 inches. The weights were exactly as I predicted – 1 pound between each with Jack the heaviest and Graham the lightest. I actually commented to the doctor that I was glad to see that Jack was tallest because I personally felt like he has “grown” a ton in the last month or so. It isn’t just my imagination (or exhaustion!) We had to get 1 shot today which nobody was happy about but the fussing didn’t last longer than it took me to put their shorts back on so it couldn’t have been too bad. I literally left the appointment thinking how lucky I was to have 3, no make that 4, healthy children. I spent some time last night re-reading old blog entries from when Chase was a baby and when I was pregnant with the triplets and realized that there were so many things that could have gone wrong – and didn’t.

Next month I will be taking over as the Outreach Chair for TMOTT (Triangle Mothers of Twins and Triplets) and I need to keep that in mind. Mine has been an amazing experience. Both of my pregnancies were routine. The boys were all healthy at birth and have developed with little to no problems. However, I know so many moms where that isn’t the case. The good news (at least I think so) is that sometimes hearing that things can actually turn out okay is a nice change. I think we spend so much time thinking about the worst and anticipating it, that we forget to remember the positive; to be grateful when things go right. For all those who have kids who need extra love and attention, my prayers are with you and I send you all the positive thoughts I can. For those who have healthy children, send your thoughts and prayers to those who struggle and be grateful every moment (even the ones where you think you are going insane – I know, hard to do sometimes) that you have the chance to celebrate a healthy child. As I take over this new role, I am hoping that I can be reminded of how things were and how they could have been. With that reminder, maybe I will spend more time thinking about the blessings in my life and less being frustrated when things aren’t perfect.

Will be writing next week with an update from Chase’s 4 year well-child exam.