UPDATE: December 10, 1998
OK, fire me. But I have more than good reasons for not updating in so long.

Everybody is mobile and it is taking more than a fair bit of effort to keep everybody under control. [Control? That's rich. Who has control in our house? It's somebody other than me...]

Regardless, Jill and I have spent lots of time trying to make a safe place in the house for the babies. We tried using various gates and battlements to cage them in the den, but Zane found a way out of everything we built.

We decided to convert the dining room into a baby room. After all, I don't think we've actually eaten at anything resembling a table in the past 10 months, so who needs a dining room? That has worked pretty well for that past week but over the past few days both Zane and Sara have discovered that they can stack toys on top of each other to extend their reach. I fear It only a matter of days before they figure out how to scale the gates covering the exits to the baby (nee dining) room.

Jill has undergone an interesting change during this time. As the babies have become more mobile, Jill has grown the proverbial eyes in the back of her head. We'll be doing something in the kithcen or somewhere in the house, and suddenly Jill will bolt out of the room like a flaming cheetah because her maternal e.s.p. tells her that the babies have gotten into something they shouldn't be into.

This seems like a good time to report on personality.

When they're not sick, all three of the babies seem remarkably happy. I suppose we have plenty of time to fix that...

Sara, being the only girl, acts like the only girl. She gets along just fine with the boys except for the times that she decides that they've crossed into her imaginary no-fly-zone. When this happens, and it seems to happen completely arbitrarily, she screams like hell's own banshee.

So far, Sara seems to understand the most words. We can say "where's Zane?" and she will look at whomever we ask her to. On the other hand, she says the least number of sounds. The ones she does, however, she does the loudest. She also has this somewhat charming habit of crying her most bitter and angry cry in the few moments before she falls asleep.

Finally, much to the joy of her mother, Sara was first to say "Mama."

Zane, as has been reported frequently, is the archetypal Curious George. He is constantly moving, constantly pushing the boundaries of his abilities, and consistently the first to achieve various gross motor skills. He seems paradoxically thrilled by the enormity of experiences the world offers and at the same time frustrated that he can't do everything and be everywhere at the same time. He has been the least verbal of the three, but, as always, makes up in enthusiasm what he might lack in ability.

Carter is Mr. Independent. He does everything on his own schedule. He has been the last to sit up, last to crawl, and will likely be the last to walk. However, when he finally decides he's ready, he will catch up to the other's skill level almost immediately. It's as though he's secretly studying the others, letting them make all the mistakes, then when he figures out all the angles, he'll debut his new skill and do it brilliantly. He has been, by far, the most verbal and so far has the widest vocabulary. He has not only mastered a wide variety of consonant and vowel sounds, but he also says, "dada," "Carter," and "good." Carter also has several distinct laughs. One is a fast vibrato/tremolo kind of thing that sounds like it might come out of the monkey cage at a zoo or a cartoon chipmunk. The other is a dead ringer for Pee Wee Herman.

November 8,

Everybody's been sick. Nothing serious, just enough to keep Jill and me from sleeping or carrying on anything resembling a "normal" life. Its been going on 2 weeks now.

This experience has finally allowed me to articulate what being the parent of Triplets is really like. Its like what Henry Hill says having the Mafia as a business partner is like (expletives deleted). "Need sleep--too bad, take care of babies. Too sick to take care of babies--too bad, take care of babies. Need a vacation--too bad, take care of babies. House swept out to sea by a tidal wave--too bad, take care of babies. House burns down out at sea--too bad, take care of babies." If only we could find a Mafiosi to help take care of the babies.

Zane and Sara are learning to pull themselves up to stand and I'm betting they will be walking by Christmas. Who will be first is anyone's guess. Although Sara has a slight edge due to much stronger fine motor skills, I'd put my money on Zane. Aside from having the strength of 10 pit bulls (try putting a diaper on just one pit bull), he has an undeniable drive to go somewhere, anywhere, all the time.

Carter is starting to act like he's ready to crawl, but he's perfectly willing to just hang out and watch everything else that's going on.

Zane has finally sprouted his first tooth.

We had our 9 month check up and here's the stats:

Zane: 20 lb., 14 oz, 27 3/4 inches long

Carter 17 lb., 27 1/2 inches long

Sara 17 lb. 4 oz, 27 inches long

We had our first Halloween. Look at the new pictures for details.

October 25, 1998
Dear Readers,
Sorry its been so long since our last update. I've been really busy. No, really I have.

I will endeavor to be more regular. Jill is threatening to have me replaced should I let so much time pass between updates.

Zane and Sara are crawling. Carter's not in a hurry to get anywhere.

Carter has 4 teeth, Sara 2, and Zane still has none.

Nothing clever to say today--perhaps more later this week.

September 25, 1998

Not to be overly wistful, but lately the babies seem to have really started to blossom .I suppose it's natural that babies go through developmental spurts, but the last few weeks have been incredible. Of course, there being three, this developmental spurt seems three times exponential.

These are interesting times in the Raines House. This is very reminiscent of the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

Our house is getting really noisy. All three babies are having a good time learning how to use their vocal cords. I'm quite certain there will never again be another moment of silence in the Raines home. Let's be honest--there is never going to be any quiet in any part of our lives, let alone a quiet moment in the house.

It's a good kind of noise, I suppose. It's one of those "It's better to have a full house than an empty house" type things. And those are examples of the little lies we tell ourselves to keep from being swallowed by the black hole of parenting multiples.

Not that I'm complaining.

The babies are getting to the point where it's obvious they can see themselves as separate from the others. Until recently, I'm pretty sure the couldn't really differentiate themselves from their siblings. However, just over the past week or so they began to look at each other and yell or laugh or drool and the others will yell or laugh or drool back. It's pretty cute and pretty incredible.

Friday, Carter started to sing his "Dadadada" song when I came in from work. I believe this to be evidence that he is making more than just random sounds. Jill continues to turn ever deeper shades of green.

Carter has also sprouted yet another tooth and the others have yet to have any break their gums.

This Saturday, I had my first full day alone with the babies. Jill had to teach, and all our other helpers were unavailable. So, it was just me and them. (Okay, we had a brief visit from our friend Laura Aust, who agreed to be on call in case the babies started a takeover.) Surprisingly enough, everyone survived.

We even took a trip to Barnes and Noble and I got to indulge in one of my favorite activities--book shopping.

My experience being alone with the babies reminds me of one of life's great truisms-- Women love babies. Women seem irresistibly drawn to a man alone with babies. They seem to be much more willing to approach a man with babies than a woman with babies.

The interesting --and depressing--thing is, most of the attention I got was from women over 50 and very little from women under 40.

Women under 30 seemed to take one look at us and scurry away as though were carrying the plague. Makes sense I guess. Being confronted with the sheer enormity of my masculinity and fertility might tend to scare any right-thinking woman in her child-bearing years. I'll take that as a compliment.

That is quite enough for now.