Standing room only. Apparently.

Today was a remarkably big day, I must admit. For starters, instead of my mom, Brian watched the babies today from 7:30 until 1:00! All three, by himself, with a bottle feeding, solid feeding and the kids were even dressed when I got home and NOT one of them was crying! Not even Brian! I'm sure many of you are thinking, "What's the big deal? (I, My husband, fill-in-the-blank, etc.) watch our kid(s) all the time. And while I take nothing away from all you other great men, watching three babies, feeding 3 babies, dressing 3 babies, changing 6 diapers, etc. is exponentially more difficult than watching one kid or even 3 kids who are different ages.

Brian scoffed at the "sub plans" I left for him, but I'll continue thinking they were completely necessary no matter what he or anyone tells me. (I realize I went from being freakishly strong to being freakishly strong and freakishly controlling!) And for the record, even though he'll say it was no big deal, I want say "Good Job Honey" because I know it was. A big deal. That WAS the longest you've ever been left with all three babies and I thank you!

So anyway, on my way home, I call Brian to tell him I'm almost there, and before we hang up he says as casually as he would if he were telling me we're out of milk, "Oh, by the way, Colton was crawling today." "WHAT??" I mean, I knew he was close. I've been watching the engine rev for weeks now. So it would figure, the ONE flippin' day his dad watches him, he decides to finally crawl. To compound the matter, I ask "What was he crawling towards?" (A toy? The cat? Piper? A picture of me? ) "Me. He was crawling towards me" he says, ever so proud. "Riiighht"....I say. "But what was he going AFTER?" Again, he says, "Me. He was coming after me!" Okay. I give up. So anyway, sure enough the little bugger can crawl. He still has moments where he relapses and either forgets he can crawl or he's just too tired, and therefore decides to just resort to the good ol' on-the-belly-army-man-crawl. (Which is just as cute.) So that was my day. I hardly had time to watch him practice his new skills though because it was bottle and then naptime when I got home.

(This is clearly an abbreviated attempt at crawling. At this point, he is frankly quite sick of me trying to MAKE him crawl.)

Flash forward 2 1/2 hours later, I'm on the phone with Anabelle, as I hear the babies talking (babbling) to each other from their cribs, which tells me nap time has ended. So I walk into the nursery to get them and I find this- something Anabelle has warned me will FREAK ME OUT THE FIRST TIME I SEE IT, AND SHE WAS RIGHT....

Yep. I walk into the darkened room, deciding who I'll peek in on first, and BAM! There is Colton, STANDING in his crib, smiling right at me. HOLY CRAPI! didn't know whether to laugh, freak out or grab him before he threw a chubby leg over the railing and helped himself to the floor. So I did both. (laugh and grab him, that is. Not freak out. I rarely freak out. (For the picture, I actually went downstairs WITH him, grabbed my camera, then came back up and put him back in the crib to pose for me.)

So that's all fine and good. First crawling, now pulling himself up to stand and ALL on the night Brian has to work until at least 11:00 pm. which means I HAVE to lower the mattress in Colton's crib myself because I'm sure as you-know-what not letting Colton stay up until 11:00 pm. Thus, it cannot wait until morning. I thought maybe it could until I watched him actually throw that leg over the railing and lean forward... Then I KNEW it was not an option. Luckily, Mary came over later in the evening, so she entertained the Bunchkins while I unscrewed and then re-screwed 4 screws. Pain.In.The.Butt. And this is just the first...there are still 2 more cribs to do... So here I am being a good mommy....

So Colton sat and watched as I lowered his crib mattress...all the while I can't help but think that with every inch I lower that mattress I lose a bit of my first born son's babyhood....How did they ever get this big? How is it that they are wearing 18 month clothes when they're not even a year old, and that they were preemies, Colton weighing just a few ounces over 4 pounds at birth, born a triplet to a mom just over 5 feet tall and not quite 100 pounds. How are they so happy and healthy and big? But as Mary said, "Because they are miracle babies." And I thought about it, and she was right. They really are my miracles.

So though you can't quite see the tippy toes, I'm sure you can see that this is the "after" picture. Colton is trying to figure out why he's suddenly so short.

Ha Ha little boy! Mommy wins!

"Aunt Mary, will you put my mattress back up?

So now he likes to stand in his crib, grab the top rail and shake it violently as you can see in the next video. Awesome.


What a day...I'm exhausted! Congrats Baby Boy Colton! Mommy really is proud of you.