Many Hands Make Light Work ...

... unless those hands belong to 20-month old children. In which case, many hands make a lot more work.

Just ask my mother.

She arrived in town today from South Carolina with her 83-year old fiancé, Jim. They are here for the next two weeks to lend "many hands" (of the adult variety) while I am at a business meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Yes, I'm going.

Yes, I'm a nervous wreck.

No, I haven't finished my Will - even though I said I would, before I go. There are a lot of things I've said I'd like to do that I just haven't done, yet. (Wait. No, that's the only thing that comes to mind.)

I do plan to knit while I am flying. I've finished two blankets, and am halfway through my third. Hopefully, this will help to keep my mind off of falling 32,000-feet to an untimely death. (Oh gosh, minor freak out session just thinking of the sensation falling 32,000 feet...)

All that aside, Charlie is most appreciative that we made the decision to call in for reinforcements while I am away. Flying solo for 5 days, 4 nights is down right scary. Almost as scary as falling 32,000 feet...

Mom arrived at about noon today with all of her grandmother "magic" and the babies are absolutely LOVING it. They are enthralled with having two new people in the house to play with, especially two new people who bring lots of new toys. Equally important - Charlie and I are thrilled to have family in town. Even though mom and Jim laid low for most of the day ... having an extra set of "eyes" was such a... welcome relief.

I really don't know how else to say it.

Here's the thing. I could go to the bathroom... do what I needed to do... and know that in the two minutes I was absent, a child (more appropriately, several children) was not going to climb on top of the table - pull out all of our steak knives, throw fruit everywhere, and then fall 4-feet to tile floor, below.

It's so wonderful having family in town... if for no other reason than I am getting caught up on all kinds of great Reader's Digest stories while visiting the commode.

As we tucked the babies in to bed tonight, I felt so much more relaxed than I normally do ... it was an odd sensation. Yet, when I asked my mother what her thoughts were after spending a half day with our brood, she responded, "I'm completely exhausted. It makes me tired just looking at how you do what you do."

Here's a woman who raised seven children ... the first six born in seven years (yes, she was almost continuously pregnant for seven years straight) and she's telling me how tired she is just looking at the energy expelled in the course of 7-mere hours ... while our triplets scaled the furniture, ran circles around the back yard, chased the dog, threw the majority of their dinner on the ground, and were quite simply... toddlers.

She is exhausted looking at us... are you kidding?! If that isn't complete and utter validation for the insanity that has been our lives the past month or so, I don't know what is.

Granted, my mother did the bulk of her child rearing 40+ years ago... but let's not focus on that. Let's just focus on the fact that my mother - the quintessential super mother - told ME that she was impressed how I managed to hold it all together.

Tonight, between Charlie, Jim, Mom and I... we shared a bottle of wine. When I had to go back in to my mother's bedroom (our guest room) to get another bottle of wine out of the closet (aka: wine cellar) she gave me a quizzical look. I tried to explain, without sounding like a complete lush, how most nights, Charlie and I like to share a bottle of wine. And well, since we split the bottle with both she and Jim ... that was really like the two of us only sharing a 1/2 bottle. To which she responded, "I never drank when I had children."

And to which I retorted, "You really should have. And besides that - it would have been great if you were able to keep a blog. Honestly... those two factors, once the babies go to bed, have been my salvation for raising triplets. Wine, typing ... and A LOT of prayer."

I'm so happy that without criticizing our decision to open a second bottle of wine tonight, she smiled and said "It probably would have done me a world of good to have a drink at night once our children went to bed."

As they grow older and move out in to the world, I hope that our children are always as happy to see me ... as I am to see my mom.