Maternity leave should be 12 months not 12 weeks

Well, after 12 weeks of bed rest followed by 12 weeks of maternity leave I go back to work tom arrow. My employer has been more than kind about my absence and it is time for me to get back to them. I feel very thankful to still have a job given this economy so I am not complaining. But, I will miss my 3 doodle bugs while I am at work. Thankfully, I will be working from home for the next 3 days.... so I can start transitioning from Mom to working Mom slowly. Alex has clearly gotten the memo that Mommy is heading back to work so sleeping through the night is a must. Lila and Brandon must have not checked there e-mail because they are not making it trough the night. Lila is close... Brandon... well... he is a cutie :)

The Perry Boys after hearing that Mommy is heading back to work :(

Who are you, small child? And what have you done with our Alex?

It was a banner night, as Alex slept from about 11:30 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. this morning. While this was not unwelcome, it was unexpected.

I hypothesize that, at some point in the time-space continuum, Future Alex is working on his Ph.D. and has sent a Cyberdyne Systems' InfantBot 3000XL back in time to record the kids' early, formative months. I can not yet guess as to how this information will benefit Future Alex, but we may come to find out at his commencement ceremony.

Present Alex is probably safely ensconced in a bubble of frozen time-space, to be released and re-inserted into the continuum at a predetermined moment.

Future Alex's only flaw (there's always one, isn't there?) is that he should have programmed the InfantBot to wake up at least twice in the middle of the night, cry like a tornado siren, and spit up at least once. Details, details.

Only time will tell if my hypothesis comes true. But if I'm right, and if Future Alex has access to this blog archive and is reading this message, I hope he'll at least send back some useful information next time. Will IU ever win another NCAA title? Will the Cubbies ever reach the Series? (Notice I said "reach.") Will I ever get the lawn as green as the ones on the Scott's commercials or am I just wasting my time??

At this point, I should mention a few things:

1. I watch too much television.

2. Actually I don't watch as much as I used to, but what I do watch tends to lean away from the traditional.

3. Specifically Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and LOST .

4. Also, the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation was on Family Guy last night.

5. I own the Back to the Future box set.

Have a great day!

Great photos

Jennifer Driscoll came by the house last Saturday morning to take the kids' pictures. I met Jennifer through work and continue to be impressed by her work. If anyone needs portraits or a wedding photographer, I would highly recommend her. You can visit her site here. And check out her blog, where she posted a few pics of the kids. We can't wait until our next photo shoot... Thanks Jennifer!!

Making weight

As of yesterday, Brandon weighed 10 lbs, and Alex and Lila both weighed 9 lbs 12 oz. Progress! I’d write more, but I have a fussy Alex to contend with!

One-handed blogging

Hi world, long time no post. Tonight has been a challenge thus far, as it seems we are 3 for 3 in the "Hold Me or I Will Cry (Loudly)" department. So I've got Alex in my left arm and Brandon on my lap. Mom is elsewhere occupied with Miss Lila, who is only happy when being escorted up and down the stairs. And up. And down. Again and again. But hey, at least we've figured out a system!

On another note, we wanted to thank the anonymous formula angel who sent us several containers via eBay. If you're reading this, tell us who you are!

Lastly (because my right hand is tired of hunting and pecking), here's a picture of the kids wearing little jackets that Grandmom Deb made.

Our big adventure

So it was finally warm and sunny enough to take the kids out for a walk today. So I pulled the triplet stroller (thanks, Joy!) out of the garage, and we loaded everyone in. It takes a little while to warmly dress and carseatify (car-seat-ify - definition: to turn one's child into a car seat; no, wait, that's not right; to put one's child in to a car seat; yes, that's better) them all, but Abby handled that while I extracted the stroller.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and none of them woke up once during our 20-or-so-minute walk. We definitely got a few double-takes from people driving by, but all in all did not seem to attract too much attention. I mean, no one ran screaming out of their front door, half dressed with their camera phone out, or anything like that. Then again, it's not even spring yet. It should be interesting to see what a walk is like when there are lots of people outside.

I think the kids enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. As I said, they never woke up, so it was at least relaxing, if nothing else. We sure liked it; poor Abby hadn't been on a nice walk outside in months!

The stroller is, umm, large. Yep. Sure is. Daddy is 6'6" tall, if that gives you any sense of scale.

Alex says, "Hide my fair skin from the sun!"

Brandon says, "Let's get moving, green means go!"

Lila says, "Where are my fans? Where are all the cameras?"

Cruising!

Back at home, Milo completes the post-race inspection.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is Sam's 31st Birthday. The cockapoo has been on the Internet again. He and the babies ordered Daddy a Birthday present.

Lila helped wrap the gift. It was children's music book so we can have more guitar rock jam sessions. The book is full of children classics, so we hear daddy playing something other than The Beatles. We like The Beatles, but we also like the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

The babies are wearing matching outfits. Hard to see, but they say "I Love Daddy"

Also, I wanted to share a picture of this beautiful necklace Sam got me for the babies due date. It is a silver family tree pendant with a garnet (babies birthstone) for each child. What a great hubby.