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Gwen woke up sick on Halloween morning, but appeared to be in good spirits despite her cough and runny nose.  I thought for sure that she would take a nice long nap since she was wiped from having a cold and she had taken 3 hour naps the two days before (fighting the cold, no doubt).  We were scheduled to arrive for a visit and some candy-grabbing where I used to work at 3:30 so I moved Gwen’s nap from 12-2 to 11-1, thinking that if she slept longer than her usual 2 hours I would still have plenty of time to adjust my schedule accordingly and get everyone ready and loaded up to leave the house at 3.  I gave Gwen some Triaminic to help her breathe so she would sleep more soundly (the night before she was very restless) and at 11:20 she went down for her nap.  Or, rather, she just went up to her bedroom to play for 2 1/2 hours.  The Triaminic must have made her spastic, or maybe she was all jazzed up to dress up in her costume, but she wasn’t having a nap.  I went up to talk to her and coax her back into bed twice but to no avail; she was back up and rummaging through books and stuffed animals within minutes.  I was smart enough to leave her up there (she wasn’t crying and she still needs that down time) so I could get some stuff done (put the candy in a basket, pack up the diaper bag, pre-make lunches, etc.) but at 1:30 the babies woke up from their nap so I figured what the heck, I will get everyone, feed everyone and then we will get into costume and go.  Gwen ate her lunch like a good girl and watched TV while I finished feeding the babies their bottles.  At 3 o’clock (my estimated leaving time) Tess was just finishing her bottle.  I changed Gwen’s diaper and got her dressed then moved onto the babies and their costumes.  I grabbed the 3 long sleeved onesies, 6 socks, 6 shoes, 3 diapers, three lamb body suits and 3 lamb hats I had set aside earlier and got to work.  I started with Holden, which was a mistake since dressing him (in anything) is like putting pants on a Barbie doll.  Not to mention the sneakers I bought him that fit with extra room in the toes only 3 weeks ago were now so tight when I put them on him he cried and I had to unlace them to get them over his instep.  At 3:11 I finally had Holden changed and dressed and moved on to the girls.  Mind you, Gwen was sneezing boogers down Bo Peep’s outfit every 5 minutes and walking over the babies showing off her dress while the babies were following Gwen trying to get her pretty dress causing her to freak out, hit, push, yell to get away from her, then run to and/or jump over me all the while.  Ugh.  I dressed the girls, who immediately pulled off their shoes so I said screw it, no shoes then, threw the kids in some car seats, ordered Gwen out the door and threw on my sneakers (over my slipper socks, because I had forgotten I had them on and didn’t have time to change them).  At 3:28 I left the house, ready to pull my hair out and wondering why I was making a trip all the way into town for a half-hour’s visit.

I had fun chatting with the girls I used to work with and they were amazed at how good the kids were and how big they had gotten.  We left there at 5, which was when I was supposed to meet Tony at home, as he was taking the kids out for Trick Or Treat from 5-6 so they wouldn’t be too thrown off their schedule (our Trick Or Treat is always on Halloween proper from 5-8 PM; I love that!).  I got home at 20 past 5 with four kids passed out in the van.  We loaded the babies up into the stroller and figured Gwen would want to walk.  Not so.  She was revolting against Trick Or Treating.  Being sick, tired, and seeing all the kids walking around dressed up really threw her for a loop I think.  After much ado about nothing, a lot of, “No!  Me go inside!”, tantrum tears, and so forth, Tony managed to get Gwen calmed down enough to plop her in the stroller and leave.  We didn’t get very many good pictures out of her though, which I was bummed about, it being the triplets’ first Halloween and all. 

Oh well.  They still looked absolutely adorable and they were the hit of the neighborhood, after we’ve kept them locked up inside for so long.  I stayed home to hand out our customary full-sized candy bars and Tony took the kids out.  It’s weird going to people’s houses you have never met and having them say, “Oh!  So these are the triplets!”  There’s a Brangelina quality to it, neither of us is really all that comfortable with the constant attention we get when we go out, but I guess it’s the price we pay for being so awesome.  LOL