"Life with Multiples"

I am a mother to 4 great girls; one of them is 10, three of them are 8. Yes, Virginia, I have triplets.

I get questions all the time (well, for 8 years now) about the children, my pregnancy, the delivery, etc. It is wearing. People are generally kind but there are some who say really stupid things.

"Were they born all at once?" "Are they identical?" (one has green eyes and is short, one has blue eyes, one has brown eyes) "I always wanted twins..." (um, so, are you saying triplets are bad?) "I bet people ask you such personal things. So tell me, was it vaginal?" "Are they natural?"

You get the idea.

I conceived all 4 of my girls with some assistance; one time I had one baby, the other time my body got three. Yes, it is hard. Not as hard as it was in the beginning, mind you. They are 8 now. They can feed, dress, turn on the TV, help with the dogs, put away their laundry (hey, hmm, my own little slave army...) by themselves. My 10 year old is what is "hard."

We have entered the rolling eyes and full body sigh/shrug stage of life. Back talk is minimal, so far, but I know it is coming. I felt really bad I had 3 kids added to our house just 2 years and 9 days after my 10 year old's birthday but it happened and you deal.

She does have to share a bedroom with one of triplets but bunk beds are cool (I never had them, except at my Aunt Marion's house in Lavallette during the Summer) and you can always blame the mess on your roomie. I grew up with a younger, by 4 years, brother. Never had a sister.

It is interesting to watch the dynamics among the 4 of them and among the triplets as well. I have started to try to call them "the 2nd graders" versus "hey, triplets" as to not label them for life as a group. Ask any mom of multiples: it is hard to give them their individuality, but when you are in Walmart looking for small kids, yelling "triplets!" gets their attention pretty fast.

I think I would complain about my work load if I had had my first child and then a singleton birth as well. I just know what it is like to have one child and then 3 more.

I love my girls so much! But yeah, it is a pain in the butt sometimes to shop for food and clothes and try to make things fair or close to equitable but I think that happens in any family with more than one child.

2 of my triplets have "special needs"; one has ADHD - Inattentive (I guess they used to call it "a day dreamer") and one is Aspergian. If having 4 kids wasn't hard enough :)

But you handle and adapt to what life gives you. You have inner strength, more than you'll ever really know, to face life's challenges with kids.