Meet our nanny

You may have seen my last post, Hi ho, hi ho, all about how I'm going back to work. It's a work-from-home position and we decided that we would hire a nanny to take care of the boys during the day so I can work. I think it will be the best of both world - I will be working and making some money, but I will be near my boys all day and can see them throughout the day if I want to (and if I have time...TBD on that!). In order for us to make this work, we had to find a nanny that would be a good fit for our family and someone that we have confidence in and trust to take the very best care of our boys. I interviewed quite a few people and here's who we hired.

Meet Layla!

Layla is originally from Upstate NY but has traveled around (including being a nanny in France and an English as a Second Language teacher in Italy) but recently moved to the upstate to be with her daughter and 2 granddaughters. She has a background in nutrition studies and experience with massage therapy, both of which will be great for Ryan's needs. She's currently studying mental illness. She understands Stokes's egg allergy and is committed to helping Ryan with his therapies and needs as much as possible. She doesn't appear to get stressed out when they're crying a lot or moving in different directions. We consider ourselves lucky to have found Layla.

Hi ho, hi ho....

...it's back to work I go.

Part of the reason that I haven't been blogging quite as much lately is because we've had a lot going on at our house. One of those things is a major change for me. I've decided to go back to work.

I wasn't looking for a job and was content being at home with the boys, but someone reached out to me about a possible position at a company I was familiar with. I initially wasn't interested, but after giving it some thought, I decided I should hear some of the details about the position. What could it hurt just to learn a little bit about it?!?! I ended up having a phone call with my new boss and we discussed the role. I talked to Thomas about it and did a lot of praying and decided that I should take it. I still don't know if I made the right decision, but I think I need to give it a shot. I've realized that this job pretty much fell into my lap and if I didn't take it, I might always think back and wonder if I should have. It was also a good offer for me. I will be working from home and the position offers a lot of flexibility, which was very important to me. We decided to hire and nanny and immediately began the nanny search as soon as I accepted the job. I'm hopeful that I won't miss out on my boys' big milestones and I'm glad that I will be at home and can check in on them if/when needed.

I'm nervous about getting back into the corporate world and back to a full-time job. You may remember how I struggled with being a Stay At Home Mom from this post, but over time I got comfortable with that role and now it's changing. I hate change, but it's inevitable.

I start my new job on Monday. Initially it felt like my start date was a long time away and now it has crept up on me and is right around the corner. I'm not sure if I'm ready, but I don't know if I will ever be 100% ready. Wish me luck!

p.s. I'll introduce you to our nanny soon. :)

Thanksgiving 2014

This year we made it to see my family in GA for Thanksgiving. We took off during the first nap of the day on Thursday and made a quick stop for lunch and drove on through. I was so excited to spend time with this side of my family since we didn't have Thanksgiving with them last year and my cousins hadn't yet met the boys.

While we were at Nana's house, we went completely off-schedule. We skipped the afternoon nap on Thursday (partially because they slept so long in the car) and then ate at random times. Both Stokes and William had Thanksgiving dinner and loved all the food! We had to be careful not to give Stokes any casseroles with eggs in them, but must have succeeded because he didn't have any sort of reaction. They both seriously ate so much! Ryan had a few small bites and liked it, too!

Unfortunately, Stokes didn't sleep very well on Thursday night. I mean, why didn't the turkey work to make him sleepy?!?!?! Anyway, I don't know whether it was being off schedule, the shots he got the previous day, teething or something else all together, but it was a bit of a rough night. It always makes me feel bad when there are other people in the house because I worry that we are keeping them up, too.

On Friday we skipped the morning nap and got on the road after lunch and they once again slept for most of the drive. It was such a quick trip and it was a little sad when we got home to an empty house after being around so much family for the previous day. We loved Thanksgiving and being with family! The food was just as good as I remembered it.

Aunt Anne and William

Ryan, Nova and Marla

William and his cousin Kaitlyn

Whitney, Kaitlyn, William and Jacob

Jamie and Ryan

The SPREAD! We had ham, turkey, dressing, sweet potato
soufflé, broccoli casserole, deviled eggs, potato salad,
creamed corn, green beans, rolls, spaghetti salad, ambrosia
salad, and mac and cheese. I didn't even get a pic of all the desserts!
No one left hungry, that's for sure!

Kelsea, Ryan and Nana Wanda

Michael, William and Kacie

Michael, William and Kacie

Gwen and William

Ryan, Nana Wanda, Gwen, William, Stokes and Nana #1

Kacie with all 3 boys

Stokes and Kaitlyn

Ryan and Da-da, getting ready for the bath

Nana #1 and Kaitlyn gave the boys a bath

Stokie playing with the water

Ryan, Gwen, me, William, Kaitlyn, Nana #1 and Stokes

Ryan fell asleep on his Aunt Anne



William and Da-da

Kaitlyn and her cousins with their adorable hats on

Our family + Kaitlyn :)

15 Month well check

The boys had their 15 month well check on Wednesday. I had approximately 1,482 questions that I asked and overall it was a good appointment. Questions included everything from spots, rashes, how much milk to give them, how much water to give them, types of snacks to give them, etc.Their pediatrician said they all look great and was pleased with their growth and stats.

They got flu shots and a battery of other shots. We gave them dum dum suckers to help distract them from the pain, but only William was interested. All 3 of them only cried for a few seconds and seemed fine after that. I was really hoping that since we had a long drive and Thanksgiving with family, that they wouldn't be cranky little guys with the shot aftermath. They did great!

Updated stats:

Stokes - 20 lbs, 1 oz (3.19%), 28.75 in (2.16%)
Ryan - 19 lbs, 3 oz (1.13%), 29.25 in (5.85%)
William - 23 lbs, 1 oz (29.15%), 30 in (18.17%)


Pictures from the appointment:

Stokes patiently waiting for his turn

William and Da-da (the 'stache was part of No-shave-ember)

Ryan and Mama

Ryan getting check out by Dr. Bessom

William's turn for his check up

He was very interested!

Stokes wanted to play with all of Dr. Bessom's instruments

Stokes checking himself out in the mirror

He's a mess!

Back in Tiger Town

Last Saturday Thomas and I got the opportunity to go to our first Clemson game in 2 seasons! Yep, you read that right - TWO seasons! As die-hard Clemson fans, we've both purchased season tickets each year since we graduated and have only missed a handful of home games, due to weddings or other important events. Other than those few games, seven of our Saturdays each fall were spent in Clemson watching our beloved Tigers run down the hill and put some "orange in the end zone". The boys, of course, changed our plans in that regard. As soon as we found out we were having triplets, we realized our attendance at each home game was short lived and didn't renew our season tickets for the 2013 season and weren't able to do it this year, either.


We've had opportunities to go to a few games before this weekend, but weren't able to go for one reason or another. But this past Saturday, all the stars aligned and we were offered tickets and a parking pass (thanks, Matt & Katie Money and to the Atkisons!) and were able to go! MaSha was generously willing to keep the boys for us, by herself, I might add, and we were pumped!


It felt good to be in Clemson on a home game day. The weather was beautiful and everywhere we looked we saw purple and orange. There was extra purple on Saturday in response to the "purple out". It did both of our souls some good to be in a place that we love so much. It's hard to have football season and game attendance as a regular part of your life for so many years and then to just quit going. We both had a little piece of our hearts where our orange blood wasn't pumping quite right. Please don't misinterpret what I'm saying. Having the boys is THE most important part of my life and they complete our family in so many ways. My heart is full to the point of being ready to explode when I'm around them, but a part of each of us missed our Tigers and Clemson football games.


In case you haven't been to Clemson on game day, I would highly recommend it. We weren't voted The South's Best Tailgate by Southern Living for the last two years in a row for no reason! We tailgate in beautiful grass lots. The campus is just gorgeous in the fall. People are friendly and typically willing to make new friends and share their tailgate goods with strangers. People take their tailgates very seriously and many have fun music, tvs, grills, karaoke machines, etc - you name it! We have awesome bars, namely The Esso, complete with a live band to add to the essence of the Clemson tailgate. Then there's the game. We have a stadium that holds approximately 86,000 people and when Death Valley is rocking, the energy is palpable. Can you tell I love Clemson on game day?!?! I hope I've talked you in to attending a game if you haven't yet (and bless your heart). :)


Here's a run down of our day in Tiger Town!

We got there and pulled into Lot 1. In case you're not familiar, Lot 1 is THE prime parking spot. We felt pretty cool pulling in there. This was a bit of a strange sensation though because we used to have season tickets with friends of our, the Wilkes, and would plan all of our tailgates the week before. Normally we would pull in to our spots (not in Lot 1, mind you), and proceed to pull out the table, chairs, chicken, chips and dips, cookies, snack mix, sausage balls, coolers, etc. This time, Thomas and I stopped by Wendy's in Easley on the way, and pull into Lot 1 and stepped out of the car. We had no tailgate supplies and weren't sure what to do with ourselves! We called some friends, The Atwoods and Scott Peterson, whom we knew were there for the game, too. They came by to visit so we didn't feel quite so out of place!

The boys: Brent, Hayes, Thomas, Brady and Scott

Pretty girl! This is Andi Kate, Scott and Rebecca's oldest
daughter. This was the first time I had met her!

Catherine and me. Catherine was my KKG little sister while
we were in school. :)

Thomas and me

Hayes, Brent and Catherine's baby, and his beer. JK!
He enjoyed playing with the (empty) bottle.

Brady, Brent and Catherine's oldest son. What a cutie!

Brent and Brady playing a little football

Fall in Clemson....ahhhhhhhh!

Tiger Fire Truck at a tailgate

About 30 minutes before kick-off, it's time to head towards the stadium. You DO NOT want to miss running down the hill!

Everyone moves in mass towards Death Valley

This is the entrance at Howard's Rock
and the top of the hill. The buses carrying
the players park right here before the game,
the players get out and line up at the gate.
I didn't get a good picture, but people are
already lined up forming a tunnel for the
players to walk through before entering the
stadium.

Tiger Band spelling "Tigers"

Tiger Band forming the paw

It happened to be the Military Appreciation game and we
had a cool flyover with some vintage airplanes!

Fly Over

The game ball came in with skydivers!

One skydiver had an American flag and one had a Clemson flag

Parachuting in to the stadium

Can you see the buses lined up along the street
behind the stadium wall and screen?
The players are all lined up there at the game.
When the cannon fires, each player touches Howard's
Rock and runs down the hill as the entire stadium cheers.

This picture shows Daniel Rodriguez, # 83, on the screen.
He got to carry the American flag as he ran down this hill
this year, as he's done for the last several years on the
Military Appreciation game. Daniel is a veteran that served
in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's a purple heart and
bronze star medal recipient and we are
so very proud of him! Read more about him here!

Legend has it that a former coach of ours, Frank Howard
(for whom our field is named), told his players, "Give
me 110%, or keep your filthy hands off my rock!"
Howard's Rock was taken from Death Valley, CA to
our stadium, Memorial stadium (aka Death Valley)
in Clemson, SC. Tiger Band plays Tiger Rag, the balloons
are released each player runs down the hill.
This has been coined as
"The Most Exciting 25 Seconds in College Football".

A sea of purple and red, white and blue balloons

This isn't a very good close-up, but someone special was
in the west end zone....

It was one of our very favorites!!! CJ SPILLER!
He currently plays for the Buffalo Bills but is injured right now
with a broken collarbone. CJ is a fantastic ambassador for
Clemson University and our football program. He still comes
back to visit quite a bit! He loves his Clemson family. :)

Thomas and me at halftime.

Tiger Band spelled out USA. This was after the halftime
show honoring all segments of the military. There was also
a 21 gun salute and a ceremony of putting a wreath on a
rifle with dog tags and boots of fallen soldiers. It was emotional
and I couldn't take any pictures at that moment. You could hear
a pin drop in the stadium - no lie.

More action from 10 rows up. We were RIGHT BEHIND
the Georgia State bench. It was awesome.

It was such a fun day and we got our fill of Clemson football for this year. Don't worry, Tiger Town, we WILL be back next year. Maybe we'll make it to several games and there's always a chance we could work up the energy (and courage?!?!) to try to take the boys to a game next fall.

This weekend is a big game for the state of South Carolina. It's the Clemson/Carolina game and it's a big deal with big stakes. We've somehow managed to lose the last 5 games in a row...shameful!!!...but I'm hopeful we can pull it out this year. Wish us luck!!! GO TIGERS!

BTW, in honor of the upcoming game this Saturday, I feel I must include the picture that I snapped from an ESPN clip a few weeks ago. It's just so perfect.

I can't make this stuff up! This was really a segment on ESPN!!!