Spaghetti Feed

Well, I did something brave this week. I let the little ones eat spaghetti. Brave, you ask? Yes, because spaghetti stains and I strongly dislike stains! I can handle mess, the sticky and the goupy, believe me, I've learned. But stains, they really get me! I'd have to say though, based on the pictures, my children loved it and it was well worth the clean-up effort! Even Megan cleared her plate at dinner that night. Go figure! As a kid, spaghetti was my favorite meal, especially when my grandma was making it :-) So I've decided, on bath night, we can have spaghetti for dinner :-)

Before, looking all nice and clean....

Andrew wasted no time digging in.

Neither did Hailey.

Wouldn't want to miss a single piece now, would we?

I'd say Andrew is pretty happy about his dinner :-)

Even Molly got into the fun.

Of course, she first carefully examined what was about to go into her mouth.

If you look closely, she even washed her hair with spaghetti sauce :-)

As soon as I removed their trays, Hailey and Andrew went for the dropped noodles.

I think they call this a "Full body experience."

After....they don't look so clean anymore!

The damage...not too bad I suppose. It was nothing a wet rag couldn't fix!

Overall, the spaghetti experience wasn't so bad and I would definitely do it again. They loved eating it and it was a fun to see them get so messy. Well, sort of! And of course, as is my style, there was a clean-up "system" that followed! The floor first, then one baby and feeding seat at a time! All the seats and trays went outside for a spray down afterwards!

reflection

I was talking to a friend the other day and sharing a little bit about my experience in finding out I was pregnant with triplets, how I felt about it, and then having a complete paradigm shift the night they were delivered. This quote sums up how I feel about it all today:

If I were to say, "God, why me?" about the bad things, then I should have said, "God, why me?" about the good things that happened in my life.
-Arthur Ashe

When I first found out I was pregnant with triplets, I was devastated. I thought it was the worst thing that could have happened. All I could think about was the risk involved, sick babies, and chaos all around. And I asked many, many times, "God, why me?" Even now, most people would look at our time spent in the NICU and feel sorry for us, wonder how we handled everything, and be amazed at our strength. And when I think back, I know there were many critical moments and times when things certainly looked about bleak as they could, but overall, I feel blessed. And I am reminded often of how things could have been so much worse and I wonder, why did our babies survive? Why did we avoid complications such as blindness, cerebral palsy, or worse, death? Why are our babies so relatively healthy when other, full-term children suffer? Only God knows, and when I think of all the good things, I do ask "God, why me?"

Well, from the day these little miracles were born I've believed in my heart that each one of them has a purpose and a story to tell. So I suppose that is my answer. I believe in my children and I guess that's "why me"!

I think we could all benefit from putting more energy into seeking out the positive in our lives and feeling blessed, instead of dwelling on the negative and feeling cheated. It took a near crisis for me to learn this, and everyday it's a struggle, but I get better at it on most days :-)

First Day of Kindergarten

Okay, I know, it's been 4 days! But, it's been 4 days and I've yet to fail at being a kindergarten mom! As you know, Megan's first day of school was this past Tuesday and overall, I think things have gone well. It was a tougher adjustment than I anticipated for her, but today she came home seeming happy and without complaint. Tired, but happy!

7 am wake-up...it was painful to wake such a peacefully sleeping Megan, but I knew it had to be done.

Dressed in her "Daddy's Angel" shirt. She had this outfit picked out weeks before the first day ever arrived :-)

When we arrived at school, she new exactly where her classroom was and found her cubby right away. She's very proud of her camo backpack.

This drawer full of shells was a day-saver. She was very excited to show it to me, so that's what we focused on during our drive to school.

Had to get the standard parent/kid shot outside the classroom.

Her teacher, Ms Mason, seems very nice and I think she will be great for Megan. Apparently, Megan has already made an impression on her, as when I picked Megan up on Thursday I asked Ms. Mason how she was doing. Her response was "Megan is just delightful. She makes me smile." Talk about a proud parent moment!!!

So here's how it went. I woke her at 7 and she got herself dressed and ready to go. She ate a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon, cheese, and chives, and some cereal. My mom arrived just in time for us to leave and we got to school right on time. Of course, we had to park a quarter mile from the front door, as everyone and their brother drove their children to school! I guess I forgot to anticipate that little detail :-) She showed me where her classroom was, we found her cubby and took a little tour. Then she introduced me to Ms. Mason. It was time for me to go, at which point the tears tried to come, but Ms. Mason was a dear and asked Megan to be her helper. That distracted her just enough for me to scoot out the door. Of course, I had to come back and leave money for her lunch account so she could buy milk, but by then she was engaged in whatever activity was going on and I don't think she even noticed. Luckily, she made a friend right away, her name is Claire, and they've been together ever since :-) Well, for 4 days anyway. Funny enough, Claire's dad and Tim went to high school together and both wrestled, while Claire's mom is a nurse practitioner at the babies' pediatrician's office. She took care of Molly when she had pneumonia and was the care provider for all of their RSV visits. It can certainly be a small world. Needless to say, I'm very proud of Megan for making this transition and being a good sport about attending school. She even says that starting on Monday, it will be okay for me to drop her at the curb with the other kids instead of walking her to her classroom. We'll see.....Most importantly, she is adjusting to being away from home again after a year and half, and I'm confident it will be a great year for her! I can't wait to post pictures from her first classroom event!

August Slideshow

New Album

Just wanted to let you all know I added a new album to our mccann pics. I'm also working on a new slideshow, as planned, this time with captions! I got some good pictures over the last week. Everything is going well in the McCann house! We've started the countdown for Megan's first day of school. After the kindergarten roundup, her enthusiasm increased quite a bit!

I also added a new link. The babies are seen by a teacher through the Birth to 3 program, and the agency is called A Step Ahead Pierce County. In the last edition of their newsletter, something I wrote was published. I plan to write something for each newsletter, time permitting, so I thought it would be fun to add the link.

Thanks everyone!

Off to College

Elizabeth and Tori ( aka Auntie Biz and Aunt Tee Tee) are heading off to college, so we got together for a special lunch this past week. Of course, I had to get some pictures of the kids with their anuties :-)

Hailey is enjoying being fed banana cream pie from Auntie Biz.

Molly is having a word with grammy about why she doesn't care for the pie like her sister :-)

Quick take a picture, everyone's looking!

The whole group!

Auntie Biz and Andrew enjoying a snuggle!

Molly and Aunt Tee Tee, smilin' pretty :-)

We love you aunties!!!

We had a great time this summer hanging out with Auntie Biz and Aunt Tee Tee. I am especially thankful for all their help with the kids and we will certainly miss them. I'm counting down the months until they return in December for Christmas! And thank you for introducing me to Chipotle! I can't wait to eat there again when you are home :-)

Swim Lessons

Well, we finished a second round of swim lessons with Megan this week and Hailey's first session. I must say, Hailey is a water bug! She absolutely loved being in the water and even practices some of her skills at home in the bathtub. Megan made good progress this time around, but still needs to conquer her fear of putting her face in the water and jumping in from the side. We are moving into soccer now, so swimming will come again probably in the spring. Here are a few pictures to show you the fun we had.

This was a common scene at every lesson....the instructor trying to convince Megan she would be just fine if she jumped in.

Eventually, we all gave up and decided a "drop" was the best approach. Megan agreed to go along with it.

The beginning of the drop....

And a smile at the end!

On this particular day, the class was working on water safety, so that explains the life vests. The funniest part of this class was that at one point, it was made up of 3 Megans. My Megan, one other student named Megan, and the instructor.

This is how Hailey entertained herself during Megan's lessons....climbing!

It was a lot of fun to be in the water with Hailey and she did a great job. My arms definitely got a workout though, trying to keep her above the water and sitting on the side when it was time.

The smile you see here is pretty much how she looked the whole time.

She always carefully picked a toy for playing. It had to be just the right one.

One of the exercises was to throw the toy and have your child practice swimming towards it.

We always practiced blowing bubbles. Hailey hasn't quite got the blowing part, but is having a great time putting her face in the water, especially in the tub and our little kiddie pool at home.

More practice swimming to the toy.

The instructor seemed to really enjoy Hailey. I think it was the smile. So on the last day she got to spend some time with her doing one of the circle songs.

I'm looking forward to our next session, when I will hit the water with Andrew and see what he can do!