Raising them right. Columbus Family Photography

The Crawford Family.

Count the kids.  FIVE!  Holy moly!  And 3 of them are 3 years old.  That’s right, friends, triplets!

Avery was a little model, loving every second of the camera attention.  The two little girls, Maddie and Mallory, they adore each other.  And that Mason right there, he thinks my feet stink.  Hehehe.Talk about energy!My session fave…

A Momma with her babes.  How awesome?!Future heartbreaker, right here.  My Lucy was at the ordering session when this Momma just wanted to hold and love on here.  She’s smitten for the babies and I can only imagine what it was like having three little newborns.  Three little one year olds.  At one point she looked down at my Lucy and said, “Our Mason is a handsome little guy. And we are raising him to be a good man.”  That, my friends, is an awesome statement. We should all be raising our littles to be good people but I just thought it was so terrific that Michelle verbally said this and didn’t just think it.  XO, Michelle!

The “finding out you were having triplets” has truly changed our lives in so many way, I could talk about it forever.  Believe it or not, when Kevin and I got married (9 years ago) we were not going to have any more kids. Just Andrew who was 7 when we started dating and 9 when we got married.

What was your reaction when you found out you were having triplets?
My reaction to finding out we were having triplets…..terrified. How? What? Really? I really think I felt time stop. There hasn’t been much in life that I didn’t feel like I couldn’t make my way through, but this, this was overwhelming. Fear, of what this was going to be like for our other two children. If all three babies were going to make it. The five weeks after finding out were the most difficult. But after the all the testing and morning sickness we found out we were going to have a boy and two girls! Three amazing blessings at the same time.

What is a typical day like in your household?
A typical day at our house I would describe as organized chaos. I really like to keep the littles on a schedule and keep things….in their place but they usually have other plans (most days, I win). We are lucky enough that our kids get to spend about everyday at home with one of us. No matter how crazy our days gets, the one thing we do everyday, no matter what is, have dinner together. We almost always cook dinner at home or order in, but on occasion we all go out. The littles do great. But we attract a lot of attention which makes going anywhere take 100 times longer than it should. The littles have gotten so use to people stopping us and talking to us that if someone doesn’t then they usually ask them “what’s your name” or just say “hi” to people as they walk by.

Do the triplets share a room?  Do YOU ever sleep?
The triplets do share a room. Sometimes Mason complains about it (already). He says the girls talk to much and wake him up. They all have their own twin bed and night stand. Plus there is a “store” in there. There is also a rocking recliner in there that one of us sits at night and nap time until the babies fall sleep everyday! Once all the littles are asleep for the night the fun begins. We clean the house every night to get ready for the next day. Get the laundry going, start the dishwasher, pick up ALL the toys, sweep the floors…if there’s time I sleep 😉

Is it getting easier or harder as the littles get older?Everybody always said it gets easier as they get bigger, or oh it’s gotta be easier now that they bigger. Not true, in anyway! From the triplets to my oldest it gets harder. The triplets were easier until they were about 2. They all needed about the same thing at the same time, Avery included. Then Avery started school and had her thing going on. Once Avery was at school the babies started playing on their own a bit and were now three little people marching around doing three different things. They no longer wanted the same snack or drink, they wanted their own thing too! Which is what we always wanted with the triplets, is for them to not just be the triplets. We want them to be their own people, and they are, we just didn’t think it would happen so quick. And now as we prepare for Andrew to set sail on his dreams in 3 1/2 weeks for the Air Force, I think it’s even harder to watch them leave. I’ll tell ya, we have been blessed with five incredible children and the pictures have captured their personalities spot on.