The Storm

We've been busy, busy, busy over the last week and I don't know if I have time to share all of our adventures, but I thought I would take you through a small sample of what I face on a daily basis with these babies. To start off, let me show you some pictures of what the house looks like, most mornings, before the babies wake up. Remember to click on the photo to get a better look and larger experience.

Peace and tranquility. It's not much, but it's home and it's clean.

And here's the magic area itself, Toys all in their place!

Here's a bit of a closer look. See all the books on the shelf and the toys in their baskets. Can you see the baskets lined nicely with linen?

Meva's desk is right next to the danger zone. When the zone is active, her desk makes for a great bunker to hide from Dad when the triplets have gotten into trouble!

Here's the gate to the kitchen. The Stools are all lined up and the area is clean.

So that's the basic area that the kids play in throughout the day. Normally I get them up and we immediately break into a pattern of changing clothes and diapers and then getting fed breakfast and a nice big bottle of milk to start the day off with. That generally takes between 30-45 minutes depending on how well they cooperate. Once that's complete, I clean up the breakfast dishes and turn them loose. I'm generally only away between 5 and 10 minutes cleaning up and getting myself some coffee and breakfast. That's all, 5-10 minutes right? What could possibly go wrong?

And yet when I come back, this is often the scene!

I've actually seen it happen; first they start off by standing on the baskets so they can start with the shelves, pulling everything down and onto the floor with the methodical passion of a zealot searching for the right book to quote a passage from the book of their leader.

With everything off the shelves, now the real work begins. Digging into the toys, rooting everything out and fighting among themselves over trinkets both trivial and vital to their happiness. From the Chicken Dance Elmo, to a plastic red star that holds mystical powers of attraction to infant boys, classic battles often take place with the loser in tears and the large, stocky baby wobbly running down the hallway to hide with his victorious prize clutched in his fat little fingers.

The Fallout, from a wider angle.

Remember the stools? You don't think they actually sit on them do you? Of course not, we turn them over instantly and then ignore them the rest of the day. Also, notice the two empty baskets, Sarah left them there.


Here's the gate that keeps them out of the kitchen. This was a good day, there wasn't too much thrown over it (although I had to stop Sarah from sending over the two baskets!!). I think that's because they took the other toys they usually throw over the gate and threw them over the cedar chest and at the dog.! Poor Gus, it just wasn't his day.

And that's part of my typical day. Every day. Sick or well, happy or cranky, this happens in one form or the other. But the funny thing is that while it looks horrible, the true sadness is that it happens twice a day! Once in the morning and once after their naps. When I die at an early age, part of the coroner's report will probably list this as a contributing cause of death.