I feel like I have a theme going with my last few posts. Yes, that would be the "Three Being Harder Than One," theme.
Since Daddy was home this weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to cut down our Christmas tree. In the name of not letting these babies slow us down, we forged through the melting snow and mud, bumpy terrain and a train ride to get our tree. Yes, we visited the Shamrock Tree Farm for our third annual cutting of the tree.
Our morning started with layering everyone in three layers of clothes. Easier said than done with babies. However, I was very thankful for the extra padding because Lila decided to walk off the top step and tumble down the stairs. Completely our fault (still feeling guilty) but luckily not a catastrophe. After the tears we were finally off to the farm. We put Lila Grace in the jogger, Adeline in the Bjorn and Savannah walked but was not hesitant to voice her disgust of all the mud. Once finding the tree, (less of an agonizing decision when you have two babies who are at any minute going to hit a wall) we watched Daddy work very hard to cut it down with the rickety saw. Savannah yelled, "Timber," as the third Wolf-Shaw tree came tumbling down. The tractor/driver came to take the tree but realized he had no claim checks. Thus, Daddy and Lila rode back with the tree while Adeline, Savannah and I hiked back. Savannah was greatly relieved to see that they still had endless cookies waiting for customers in the wreath barn.
Of course, I pack everyone up to cut the tree in order to try and feel like the "normal" family, the "not held back by our prematurity" family. Yet, nothing is as easy as it seems. There it sits in the back of my head, "Should we be here?" "Are they too cold?" "Is Adeline keeping her sats up?" What if I slipped and fell in the mud - would she be dangerously hurt?" And there is always the mom who is encouraging her toddler (probably same age as the twins) to look at the babies. "Say Hi to the babies." Then the toddler touches the girls which makes me question whether or not we should be in public. Should I say, "Please don't touch - they were one pound babies or just give the mom the look? Clearly, we continue to hang in the balance between "normal" and "premature."
On the flip-side, I type this sitting by our tree that was beautifully decorated with the help of our biggest girl. How nice it is to see how much she has grown up over the past year. There was no, "Don't touch that," or "Be careful," she just knew what was appropriate. She took great joy in examining all of the ornaments. I took great joy decorating the tree while my two babies slept upstairs. I take even greater joy stressing about what they might do to my tree instead of trying to find time to decorate it in between NICU visits. It is hard to believe that it was only one year ago!!
