I came home from work today to find my three girls on the couch, Marayla in Ari’s lap, and Julia reclining in her Boppy next to them.  Julia saw me first and smiled super big like she always does when I come home.  Marayla had to twist her head around to see me, and she smiled and hid shyly behind her hands.  Ari looked tired but content.  This is nice to come home to.  But today was a bit different.  In fact, today was wonderful.  I went upstairs and got changed, then came back downstairs to start grilling the chicken that caused such havoc earlier in the day.  I grabbed my flip-flops by the front door, and that’s when I saw the girls’ monitors in their cases sitting there by the door like luggage belonging to a house guest who is ready to leave.  I asked Arianne, “What are the monitors doing by the front door?”  She didn’t answer, so I stuck my head around the corner and she was beaming at me.  We got the call today.  The girls no longer need the monitors!  No more leads, no more belts, no more alarms, apneas, low heart rates, loose connections, full batteries.  Arianne had tears in her eyes, and I ran over and hugged her.  We have been waiting for this day for so long.  And yet, the monitors have become more of an annoyance lately rather than a burden.  So, getting rid of them is not as momentous now as it would have been a few months ago.  But I wasn’t going to let that take away the feeling I’ve been longing for since April – I was going to enjoy the monitors’ exit from our lives.  Granted, the monitors have proven critical, and at times lifesaving.  I’m thankful for the help they have given us, all of us.  But I’m so happy that life with the monitors is finally behind us.

I told Ari today that I wish we could visit ourselves back when the girls first came home, when the monitors frightened us and we watched the blinking lights like hawks, when we stressed over every episode.  I wish we could talk to those new parents and tell them, “We know it doesn’t feel like the day will come when the monitors go away, but it will.  We are that day, and you’ll get there.  And when you do, it’ll be wonderful.”  We put the girls to bed tonight, in zippered feety PJs for the first time.  The two square, black bags with the gray cords shooting out were not there.  It was just the crib.  The girls are sleeping free, wireless, charged for life.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from a chicken dinner when I acted like a dip...

So, the girls had just woken up from a nap, a bit earlier then they were ready, and so they lay fussing about on their play mat, while in the kitchen I am basting chicken breasts with barbeque sauce.  I spent quite some time trying to decide if the chicken had gone bad.  I was smelling the breasts, then the container.  It smelled a bit funky but I thought, well it’s just raw meat.  So, as to not stink up the house I decided to put the nasty container in the garbage can currently located on our curb.  I ran downstairs and swung the garage door a bit too hard behind me and it slammed shut.  For a brief moment I pretended that the door would not be locked, but since I am all about our safety (we lock all doors and arm our alarm system nightly) I knew that I was screwed.  Rather than panicking, I just walked to the garbage can, tossed the chicken container and then RAN to my neighbor’s house.  We have a really nice neighbor two doors down that works from home.  He let me use his phone to call Ryan, thankfully that morning I forced myself to memorize his work number in case I was ever without my phone.  Unfortunately Ryan was not answering.  So, we went over to the garage door and tried to pick the lock.  I heard Julia screaming from above, which was very comforting!  Once we determined that we couldn’t pick the lock we went back to his house and tried to call Ryan again.  He did not answer and I had no other numbers in his office so I called a locksmith.  I was starting to freak out when I did not hear the girls anymore (I even went to the front door to ring the bell and yell loud).   I was about to ask my neighbor to break the door down and Ryan (who finally called) was about to leave work when the locksmith arrived and finally got in the house using a numberless credit card!  Seems like a simple task, but naturally not priced so simply.  I ran to the girls, Julia was sleeping and Marayla was cooing.  Later that night we ate bad chicken that cost us $85.