House Guest Withdrawal

Since Alexis, Jack, and Faith's birth in June 2013, we have had many house guests who have come to meet our trio and help out. Most of these visits have been made by the grandparents (both grandmas are very dedicated, which is awesome!), but we have also had both my brothers and many of my out-of-state friends come for visits. As our babes have gotten older, though, it was starting to feel like the visitors were becoming less frequent as the novelty of triplets had worn off a bit and people seemed to assume that we didn't need as much help since we've been doing this awhile (although we have grown accustomed to life with triplets, they are constantly changing and keeping us on our toes so help is always appreciated). Surprisingly, though, we had three different sets of house guests from January 22 through February 15, which meant that during that 25 day period I only had five full days alone with our trio.

Our first visitor was Micah's mom who was here from January 22nd through February 2nd. Micah and I had a seminar to attend on January 23-25, and Karen volunteered to take care of Alexis, Jack, and Faith during the three days we were gone. We fed the kids breakfast in the morning before we left and I was home every night in time to help make dinner, but Karen did a great job taking care of the kids by herself while we were gone. She is Super Grammy!

Grammy builds great towers

A, J, and F with Grammy

The following Thursday (1/29) I flew to WA to visit my friend Katie and her husband. They bought a house a couple of months ago and I wanted to see it and help with projects, so Karen offered to stay in ABQ to help Micah with the kids. I am glad that the kids had such a great weekend with their daddy and Grammy while I was gone, but I was a little disappointed that no one was excited when I walked in the house after being gone for three nights. Next time I should probably FaceTime with them less so they realize I am gone :). Despite not being missed by Alexis, Jack, and Faith, I had a great time with Katie and it was a nice break from my regular routine.

It snowed in ABQ while I was in WA so Micah got to play in the snow with the kids for the first time

Alexis

Faith wouldn't keep her mittens on so Micah taught her to put her hands in her pockets

Although it was snowy in ABQ, it was surprisingly sunny in WA and Katie and I enjoyed running along the Pacific Ocean

I spent a lot of time ironing curtains as Katie's new house didn't have window coverings. It was fun to see the room transform!

Katie and I always indulge in lemon drop martinis and puppy chow when we see each other

Karen left on a Monday (2/2) and then my brother Kent and his wife Emily arrived on Thursday, February 5th. Kent and Emily last visited in October 2013, and although they spent a little time with us when we were in Michigan in May, August, and December, they live 30 minutes from my parents so we didn't get to spend as much time with them as we would have liked. Having them visit us in ABQ was great as we got to spend a lot of time together, which meant that they got to know Alexis, Jack, and Faith a little more.

Kent pushing the kids in the swings at our park

Although Uncle Kent did need to do a little work while he was here, the kids didn't mind "helping"

Emily and Kent are very competitive, and Emily won the girl dressing contest

We took the kids on a short hike in the foothills of ABQ

After our hike we let the kids run down the trail. Since it was a little uneven and a hill, Kent and Emily helped keep everyone safe.

Our kids love to pretend they're sleeping, so they played the game with Uncle Kent

Future engineers?

Uncle Kent helped Jack build a really tall tower

...and Faith

Kent and Emily left super early on Monday (2/9), and then my college roommate Joy and her 3-year-old son (soon to be 4-year-old) arrived on Thursday, February 12th. Although we did a pretty good job of visiting each other for the first five years after we graduated from college, sadly it had been almost four years since we had seen each other last. Life had gotten super busy for both of us and there were many reasons why we weren't able to see each other, so when Joy texted me in mid-January to ask what I was doing mid-February, I was super excited that we would get to see each other again.

Our friendship is one of those that picks up right where we left off, even though we aren't great at calling each other (we both blog so that definitely helps us keep up with each others families, too). Joy and I met on the club triathlon team at CU Boulder, so we spent many hours swimming, biking, and running together during college in addition to living together for two years. Although Joy is in MUCH better shape than I am right now, we made it a point to run together a couple of times over the weekend and all four kids came along on one of the runs. I'll admit that I can't run with the triple stroller uphill for more than a couple of minutes, but Joy is super strong and didn't have any trouble despite the altitude. I am very impressed that she continues to train for marathons and other races while holding a full-time job as an elementary school principle, and while being a great mom to two wonderful boys. I was glad that she brought her younger son with her to ABQ as it was fun to get to know him outside of blog posts.

Faith, Jack, and Alexis looking at the zoo exhibits with Miles. It was interesting to see how they interacted with Miles as it made them seem so much more grown up.

Joy pulling a wagon full of kids to the park while I pushed Jack in the stroller

Alexis and Faith with Miles

Micah put our kids to bed one night so Joy and I could go out to dinner (Miles joined us but he was on his best behavior)

Happy Valentine's Day! Joy brought the t-shirts for the boys and the sunglasses.

Faith and Miles by a huge stingray at the ABQ aquarium

Joy is not afraid of a challenge, so we decided to try going out to breakfast with all four kids, and everyone did great

When we realized that we would have so many days of house guests I was worried about everyone staying healthy, but thankfully we have had a month of great health at our house which meant we had a lot of fun with everyone in town. Now that the visits are over, our days are slightly less exciting, but my parents will be here in a couple of weeks and I'm sure the time will fly until then.