Welcome to the New Crazy

Legend has it that the children's television host Mr. Rogers always carried in his wallet a quote from a social worker that said, "Frankly, there isn't anyone you couldn't learn to love once you heard their story."







Please don't misinterpret my opening statement as a challenge for you to care about me or my family. Chances are that if you are reading this blog, you probably already have some small level of affinity for our family. The point of this blog is to provide a narrative of our family- our trials, challenges, and our ongoing adventures. I am very purposefully avoiding the word "journey" because I think the word has become hokey and overused to a laughable extent.







The second reason for this blog is to provide a modestly unvarnished view the ongoing saga of our wonderful family through the eyes of a husband and father of one, about to be a father of four this afternoon. That's right! Today, my family is welcoming triplets into this crazy and confusing world.



Life in the Smith house used to be fairly uneventful and drama-free until last summer. My wife, Lacey, woke up one morning and told me that it was time to sell our home because she didn't feel it was right for us anymore. I was confused but I went along with it because I didn't have much affection for the house anyway. It never really felt like home to me. So.... we put our house on the market.







The next few months would prove to be challenging as we would be thrown several trials. By the end of 2014, both of our beloved family cats, Bevo and Chopper, whom we have had in our family for 13 and 10 years respectively, both passed away. Then a bomb hit us on Oct. 1, 2014..... I was diagnosed  with cancer. It's okay, I'm clear now but I have to go back every 6 months for scans to ensure that I am clear.

 

This is me at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. We spent 3 grueling weeks in this place.

At the same time my cancer diagnosis waltzed its way into our lives, we were going through fertility treatments to have another child. Since we had my son, we tried to have children for six years but to no avail. Four weeks after my diagnosis, we were told we are having triplets. And the hits just keep on coming. Don't get me wrong, we are excited but also we are also equally terrified.

For those of you who know me know that I am typically quiet until I develop a relationship of trust with you. However, once I get to know you, I rarely shut-up and I will, in all likelihood, grate on every one of your last nerves.







I also have a history of  cynicism that usually comes out in a combined form of creamy thick sarcasm and/or an attempt at self-deprecating humor. My wife, Lacey doesn't mind the inevitable failed attempts of self-deprecating humor but she never orders the sarcasm with which the self-deprecation is sometimes served.







A little about the author: I grew up in the Central Texas area my whole life. I had a very average childhood. I went to college, lived abroad in Australia for 2 years serving as a missionary for my church. I play a musical instrument, I like reading personal finance books, my favorite band of all time is U2, I love my San Antonio Spurs, and I attend a boot camp class twice a week. See, you're already bored. I'm about to fall asleep writing this prosaic crap. Seriously, no one cares, Josh.

Okay, moving on.....



This is me with my beautiful family. We had these pictures professionally done just a few days ago in the middle of a marshy field with a rustic cabin in the background. The smile on my face is actually an evolved grimace as I was being savagely eaten by mosquitos.  

This is my lovely wife, Lacey. Although her face indicates a happy person with a resilient spirit, she is really saying "get me the hell out of this bed"! Here in this picture, she has a dubious amount of straps encircling her belly. These straps are attempting to monitor all of the babies' heart rates simultaneously. As you might imagine, this is really difficult to do.

Lacey is seriously the best person I know. She is kind, fun, fun-loving, and people just seem to naturally gravitate toward her because she smiles constantly and is eager to chat incessantly about anything with anyone.







Let me give you an example of how much people like Lacey. When I go anywhere without Lacey, I invariably run into a mutual acquaintance that Lacey and I have and this is how the conversation typically proceeds....





Random person: Hey, Josh.

Me: Hey

Random person: How's Lacey doing?





Did you notice how the person skipped right over asking me how I was doing? I mean, I can't really blame them. I'm not very interesting but could you at least make some kind of veiled attempt to be somewhat interested in my well-being? I wish I could say this was different with my own family but it usually follows some version of what I just described.

This is us getting married in Houston almost 15 years ago. Isn't she beautiful? Yes, women reading this, she is still pretty.








Lacey's motto is to "always make room for fun", which is why I love her so much. She is extremely fun, sassy, and one of the smartest, most creative people I know. Here is an example of her having fun...

 Lacey thought trying on my vintage Houston Oiler Helmet would be hilarious. This helmet has not fit on my head since I was 7 years old, which gives you some insight into how freakishly small Lacey's head is...it also gives you some insight into the largeness of my head. Understandably, Lacey and I have always been concerned about the head shape and size of our future children.

 

Here is a recent example of Lacey having fun.... Her YouTube Triplet Mom- Uptown Funk DancingVideo has over 37,000 views thus far. If you haven't seen it, your missing out. To me, it looks like she's smuggling a torpedo under her shirt.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sydqFhjWYk8

Lacey and I currently have one son...Lincoln.

Lincoln is almost 8 years old and he also likes to have a lot of fun.  Exhibit A...

 

 

In the New Year, I was subsequently offered another job that allows me to office out of my house, which is a huge blessing. So now I work from home when I am not traveling for work. Around the same time I started my new job, we were closing on our house and moving into a rental not far away until we figure out what we need to accommodate our new litter.




Experts from various fields say that the most stressful life events include moving, getting married, major illnesses, changing jobs, having children, and getting divorced. We have experienced almost all of these life changes within the last nine months. Fortunately, my wife hasn't yet figured out that she's too good for me and left.

Hi, my name is Joshua Smith. In the last nine months, my family has survived cancer, moving, the death of all of our family pets, a new job, and in just a few short hours, we will literally be doubling the size our family. At 1pm today, we will be the parents of multiples and we have no idea what we are doing. Frankly...I'm terrified. Welcome to our nightmare, everyone! The water is still warm.