Poor Rachel

Today the girls turned 14 months. All three of them. You know that and I know that but most people don't know that. Recently I have been asked if I have twins and a singleton. When I give them a confused look I get "well, that one looks different" or "she's too small to be the same age".

While it is true, that she's smaller then the other two and that Alyssa and Julianna look more alike they are not older then Rachel. Alyssa is actually younger.

So, I was already pretty frustrated when I got to Giant and discovered that my new awesome triple-wide stroller is too big to fit through the front door. I had to unload all three girls, corral them, fold down the stroller and try to get them in the front door. Thankfully someone took pity on me and helped me in. Then I had to reload them all and make my way to the pharmacy to fill a RX. Of course, I'm running out of time - I have to be to the kids school in 30 minutes plus get some groceries. Not going well.

"Oh my goodness, look at this!" An older lady stops by the stroller. Nothing new, happens everywhere. I smile, what can I do? I'm kind of stuck in line.

"So, what do we have here? Two boys and a girl?" The lady is looking up and down the triple wide stroller. They are ALL wearing identical pink shoes and identical pink and green striped shirt (I meant to take a picture but forgot). Most of me is wondering which one is the girl.

"No, they're all girls." This is why triplet moms need to practice that fake smile. Probably moms of all special needs kids or any other human being that attracts attention for any reason.

"They're not twins are they?"

What?!

"They're triplets."

"Oh, but that one looks so different." Thank God Rachel has no idea people are talking about her.

"Yes, she does." What else do I say? I've had people question us severely as to why Rachel looks different and how she could be so much smaller. Kirk says I should start saying "You're right! She must not be a triplet, she's too small!" I should of said, "No, they're not triplets I had one every five months for 15 months." I wonder how long it would take her to figure out that math (and biology).

The lady's friend walks up, stops, looks over the stroller, asks, "Is it hard to have three at once?"

"Um, yes." Again, what the heck do I say?

I got stopped no less than 6 more times before I tried to make my exit from Giant. I go through the self-serve because it's the only one big enough for my stroller. No one helps. The lady manning the self-serve aisle sees me try to exit (hey, maybe these doors are wider) and says, "I don't think you'll fit." Does she offer to help? No. Thank God, a very tall man knew how to dismantle the doors so that the sliding doors open out and I could fit through.

To say all this, I'm no longer shopping at Giant. At Harris Teeter, I can get in right away, they have cookies out front and people trip over themselves to offer help. I swear they do. I get help out to my car, people grabbing milk for me, surely someone would've helped me that works there if there was a door issue.

Happy 14 months to the girls. And I still miss my mom who has been gone a year tomorrow from her "help-with-the-triplets" post. Bummer but I have managed to survive thanks to the help and support of quite a few others.

As for milestones, Rachel and Julianna are waving quite well. Rachel was actually quite sweet in the store waving at everybody - this is unusual for her because she is usually anti-social and very into mom or dad. As the self-dubbed "princess" Alyssa has a harder wave to learn and hasn't worked on that yet.

They have all left crawling behind and are walking/running everywhere they go. More pictures soon.