Harper & Lee Plus Three

Our First Big Adventure

"Okay Zozo, how's that?" I asked, putting the cute little pom pom hat over her head.

    "Good," she said, sniffling.

    "Do you feel any better now that you took some medicine?"

    "Uh-huh," she said.

    I felt her head. She was still a little warm. "My poor baby. I'm sorry we have to take you out today."

    "It's okay Mommy. I want a pumpkin!"

    "Oh, she looks pretty good," said Jamie as she came up behind me.

    "Yeah, your idea to put some foundation on her was a pretty good one," I said.

    I looked at my poor, sick little girl and tried to be strong. MTV paid for the entire farm to be closed down for us to film today. And if we didn't film, we didn't get paid. We didn't get paid, my kids didn't eat, we didn't pay our mortgage, and we'd be a bajillion dollars in debt from the hospital for all the babies' NICU stays. I couldn't stay home with Zozo because Lee needed help with Ella, Lukas, and the four babies we did have.

    I still felt trapped, though. This wasn't okay. Giving my daughter Tylenol to lower her fever and putting foundation on her so she didn't look pale on camera, then dragging her around on a farm all day while she was so sick...how was this not child abuse? How could I do this to my little girl?

    "I'm okay, Mommy, really!" Zozo said.

    "You're very, very sure?" I asked.

    "Uh-huh!" she said.

    "See, she's good to go!" said Jamie.

    I went downstairs with her and saw Lukas walking out towards the van with a diaper bag. He was our little helper. He'd always get things in the car for us when it was time to leave, even without asking.

I set Zozo down and counted the babies. One. Two. Three...I turned around and took a sleepy Raven out of her swing, placing her in her carrier. Four. I took two of the babies and walked out to the car. I clicked their carseats into the bases, then did the next two. Thank goodness they didn't have oxygen anymore. It was so much easier to take them places.

Lee folded up our two strollers while I got the triplets settled in. Then, it was time to hit the road. With the cameras mounted in different spots of the van, we backed out of the driveway and started getting on the country roads that lead to Harvest Hill Ranch. We parked right in the front and started getting the kids out.

All three girls were fast asleep from the car ride. Hawk was fussy, as usual. He couldn't stand his carseat. We hooked it up to one of the strollers, but I decided to carry him. Being held seemed to settle him down.

As we walked over to the staff waiting for us, Zophia sneezed and got snot all over her face.

"Aww Zozo! Lee, can you wipe her up?" I asked.

He sighed, got the wipe out of one of our diaper bags, and took care of Zophia. We got to the staff, who greeted us with big, warm smiles. They had goodie bags for the triplets with candy and stuffed animals.

"What do we say, guys?" I asked them.

"Thank you!" said Ella, Zophia, and Lukas.

First, we were going on a hayride. I put Hawk back in his carrier, which caused him to throw a fit, so I could help Lee get all the kids up there. All the hay definitely wasn't helping Zophia. She sneezed the entire ride to the pumpkin patch. I was literally running out of tissues from my purse.