Jesse Swanson took a photo with Instagram: I can't believe we'll be lighting these tomorrow #doubledigitstimesthree #tripletsdoten #lifewithtriplets
It was seven thirty in the morning and Beca had already cried twice. Once when she woke up and found herself staring at the photo of the triplets at four, standing in front of Walt and Mickey at Disneyland that sat on her nightstand, and once when her kids came downstairs announcing they were ten years old (Buddy the elf had been positioned next to their candles, and they were very excited).
"Happy birthday Jackie!" Molly said brightly, shoving a gift at her older brother. "Happy birthday Tobes!" she shoved a gift at her little brother.
"What's wrong with her?" Toby motioned towards their mother, who was carefully wiping her eyes and flipping pancakes.
"Be nice to your mother", Jesse almost scolded. "It's a big day for her".
"No Mum, it's OUR big day", Jack corrected. "We are TEN!"
They'd had their big birthday bash a week and a half earlier, recreating their infamous sleepover party of years earlier (Beca had taken great glee waking them all up in the morning for pancakes, knowing that despite her warnings, they had fallen asleep around five a.m), but that night was going to be about family. Their aunts and uncles and cousins were coming over, and their grandparents were arriving a day earlier (it had been tradition, since Beca and Jesse had Connor, for their parents to arrive on Christmas Eve).
But despite all this, Beca was an emotional wreck.
She was the mother of a ten year old.
She was the mother of three ten year olds, and that didn't sit well with her.
Beca stood silently by the stove, watching as her children hoovered down their pancakes (chocolate chip, birthday tradition), chatting excitedly among themselves, anticipating what was in the gifts in the lounge room (Molly had eyed them off on her way downstairs).
"You okay?" Jesse checked, nudging his wife, and she nodded.
"Yep".
"No walls today", he said softly. "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours?"
"They're ten".
"I know".
"Why are they ten?"
"Because they didn't listen when we said not to grow up?" he tried. "Because Peter Pan isn't their favourite movie anymore?" he chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing the top of her head. "I'll cancel their next birthday, okay? And all the ones after that".
"Hey!" Toby squawked through a mouthful of pancake. "I heard that!"
Seeing the ten year olds sporting party hats made Jesse smile. But he couldn't help thinking of that day nine long years ago, where their three babies wanted nothing to do with their fluffy hats (courtesy of beloved Uncle Benji).
"Party hats!" Benji called excitedly, swinging the door to the Swanson house open. "Beca, look what I've got them!"
"They better not have mini hat capes or something", Beca said with a grunt, as she hoisted Molly's tights up over her nappy. "I'm serious Benji-"
"No Beca just look at them!"
They were tall and fluffy and had pom-poms on the point and they insanely cute. But hard as nails Beca Swanson couldn't tell him that.
"Are you gonna get them on them?" she questioned, grabbing Toby by the back of his pyjamas as he tried to crawl away.
"You've really got this whole having triplets thing under control", Chloe chuckled, as she walked back into the room with Jack on her hip.
"Who didn't shut the gate?" Beca all but bellowed, twisting Molly's little curls into a pigtail, before tying it off with the smallest hair tie known to man.
"Relax, I've got him". Chloe bounced him a little, making Jack grin. "Hey Jack a boo, you're a big one today!"
"Where's your husband?" Benji wanted to know, showing Chloe the hats and smiling when she cooed.
"I don't even know". Beca shrugged. "I thought he was going to pick you up, but clearly I was wrong. Jesse!"
"What's up weirdo?"
"Get in here and dress your children!"
"You're looking a little flustered sweetheart", he commented. "How can I help, Bec?"
"You can get those two in their hats or you can get that one dressed, take your pick".
"Come on Jack, come on Molls. Let get these hats on!"
Twenty minutes later and a punch in the eye from his youngest son ("Toby's dressed now, and I'm gonna get dressed. Don't let them completely trash their outfits in my absence") he had their hats on their heads. And he couldn't say they were happy about it.
"Look at you guys, rockin' the party hats", Stacie cooed as she came in the door. "Happy birthday babies!"
"Happy birthday babies!" Stacie laughed, and Toby came flying towards her.
"Aunt Stacie!"
"Uncle Ryan!"
"Hey, happy birthday!" Ryan chuckled, as he was overrun by the arms trying to hug them both at once.
"Why do I not get that reaction?" Aubrey demanded, following the two of them in the door.
"Because you're not the fun aunt", Stacie called, moving the triplets aside to let them in. "Pile on in, it's cold outside kiddies".
"When has that ever bothered you?" Chloe wanted to know.
"Can we open our presents?" Toby wanted to know, and Jesse chuckled.
"I thought one of you wanted to come to the airport?"
"That was me!" Jack said quickly.
His parents and Beca's mother were on flights that landed merely ten minutes apart, and it was his job to pick them up. So he was throwing Jack (his partner in crime) into the car and heading off before their birthday really got started.
"And me!" Harry pumped his fist into the air.
"Alright, get in the car. We'll be back soon!"
"What are you doing?" Chloe wanted to know, poking her head into the kitchen and finding Beca meticulously writing the kids' names on their cakes. "Did you go to the cemetery today?"
"Of course, first thing". She nodded. "Toby wore his gumboots".
Chloe laughed. "Of course he did. You okay?"
"I'm always okay". She smiled at her.
"Quick question, is Jack still wearing his pyjamas top?"
She stuck her head out of the kitchen, darting after her husband and son. "Jack put an actual shirt on".
"I'm wearing a jacket", he protested.
"Put a shirt on", Jesse said in surprise.
(Pyjamas days were still a favourite for the triplets.)
"What are you doing?" Jesse wanted to know, coming into their bedroom. "They're finally asleep, by the way".
"Tomorrow they'll be three", Beca said with a smile, holding up three pairs of footy superhero pyjamas. "How cute are these?"
"They're gonna love them", Jesse laughed. "Superheroes are the thing now, are they?"
"I think they're gonna be the thing for a while", she predicted. "Superheroes are here to stay".
"We can start showing them the Marvel movies-"
"No". Beca held up her hands. "Not yet".
He grinned. "You like movies".
"Go to bed Jesse we're gonna be up at the asscrack of dawn".
(She'd never admit it.)
Jesse Swanson took a photo with Instagram: Jack Henry. Little brother of Connor, Rosie and Isaac and big brother of Molly and Toby. The eldest of the three wild triplets that made us parents with children again. He's silly and serious and very funny. He's the cautious leader of the pack, despite his younger brother often taking charge. He's got the darkest eyes and a grin that can light up the darkest of days. He's our eldest little boy and we love you forever, Jack (or Jackie, for one pink little girl) #jackhenry #swansontripletsdoTEN #doubledigits
"What are you doing?" Toby laughed, as one year old Jude (son of Donald and Lily) rolled onto his stomach, beaming at his cousins.
"He's like one of those rolly bugs, remember Toby? You squished so many of them", Molly giggled, making Beca snicker.
On the morning of their fourth birthday, much like they'd been doing since they weren't confined in the bars of their cots, the three of them wandered into their parents' room, looing serious.
("I bet they say something weird", Beca whispered, the first time they'd done it. They were Swansons; of course they were gonna say something weird. And they didn't fail to disappoint.)
"Mummy, Daddy", Molly said, crawling, into the bed and furrowing her little eyebrows together. "You know those rolly bugs? The ones in the driveway?"
"Like the one I nearly squished", Jack elaborated, just in case they didn't get it. "With my bike".
"Yeah?" Beca said warily, wondering where on earth the conversation could be heading.
"Do you think they roll around in little balls so they don't get squished or just for fun?" Jack wanted to know.
Beca laughed. "I think they do both".
"Me too", Toby said happily, snuggling between his parents. "Me too".
"Can we have pancakes?" Jack checked, wriggling underneath the blankets.
"Right now?"
"Yeah", Molly agreed, jumping off the bed with her ballerina grace (Beca hoped that she'd always dance. She was the happiest when she was dancing).
"I hope they're always this weird", Jesse chuckled, as he and Beca followed the energetic four year olds (who had that much energy that early? He'd never understand how children worked).
"Of course they will be, they're Swansons".
"They're half Mitchell", he reminded her.
"Poor things never stood a chance". And she grinned, that same smile that he had fallen in love with so many years earlier in the radio station at Barden.
So many mornings their kids had wandered in, long before what Beca considered a normal hour, speaking of fluffy unicorns and rainbow clouds and digging for dinosaurs in the backyard and night terrors that had occurred. And Jesse loved the silliness of it all, the silliness of three three year olds (or, just turned four year olds). It was something to hold onto, long after they were grown up and corralled into clothes for elementary school and lugging backpacks as big as the sofa (their backpacks for preschool were big enough- Jesse saw them bending under the weight of them, but Beca had said that he was exaggerating).
He had started writing things that they'd said down- mostly to remember, but also to embarrass them when they turned eighteen and twenty one and all the birthdays in between.
He feared the day they started making sense. "Mummy, Daddy, what's the car parking situation like?" one of them would ask, and a little part of him would trundle off to die.
He knew they had to grow up- as much as he and Beca didn't like it. He knew the world was going to walk into the room. But at that moment, he was happy to hold onto the wonderfully weird mornings and unicorns and dinosaur bones in the backyard and rolly bugs in the driveway, who were rolling around just for fun.
"Are you gonna put on a show for us, Molly?" Cynthia Rose wanted to know.
Baby Molly would often climb up onto the coffee table to dance and sing for her family, making everyone giggle.
"No not today". She grinned sheepishly, her cheeks turning pink.
(She was all about dancing and singing, and she was determined to join the community theatre group. She was going to make it onto the stage, even if it wasn't Broadway just yet.)
Jesse Swanson took a photo with Instagram: Molly Claire. The rose between two thorns. Little sister to Connor, Rosie, Isaac and Jack and big sister to Toby. A graceful ballerina and sassy sweet, the spitting image of Beca with an attitude to match. The girl who will no doubt be on Broadway one day, singing Defying Gravity like she told us she would, at 6 years old. She has a cheeky grin and sparkly blue eyes and so much love to give. Happy birthday Molls, we love you #mollyclaire #swansontripletsdoTEN #doubledigits
"They're passed out", Beca said with a small smile, looking at the double bed that she and Jesse were meant to share. All three of the kids were sprawled out, long crashed after returning home from their first Broadway show. She had been their age when her father had taken her to see Beauty and the Beast in New York City (leaving her mother at home in Maine), and she'd loved it.
While they'd ummed and ahhhed over which show to take them to, Wicked had won out. All three of them adored the Wizard of Oz, asking to watch it multiple times a day and Jesse had decided that they'd enjoy the story behind the witches of Oz.
"She knows all the words already". Jesse nodded towards the CD, clutched in Molly's hand, and Beca chuckled.
"That can live in your car, I think".
"As if Broadway", he scoffed. "That's all yours babe. She's your kid".
Beca brushed the flyaways off her Molly's forehead, wondering how they could successfully move the three of them into their beds without waking anyone.
"leave them", Jesse suggested, moving into the next room and leaping onto the double bed Toby and Jack were sharing (while the triplets were still small, they liked to sprawl out in their sleep and they weren't going to fit the three of them in the double bed for the whole night without someone falling out, so they'd ordered up a cot for Molly) and patting the space beside him. "Good night Bec!"
"You're such a weirdo", she chuckled.
"Our sleepover was so much fun", Harry said through a mouthful of pizza. "Hey, remember when you had the same party?"
"We were seven", Molly remembered. "Abi it was such a good night, right?"
"Which one?" Aubrey interrupted. "I heard you lot were up quite late".
"No we weren't", Toby shot back, his eyes sparkling. "We were in bed on time".
"Your nose just grew a foot", Michael chuckled. "You my friend, are a liar".
"For the love of God", Beca murmured, cracking open one eye as the noise floating up the stairs increased once more. "When are they going to go to sleep?"
"Don't know how the Duggars do it", Jesse agreed.
"It's your turn to go and deal with them". Beca pulled the blanket up, squeezing her eyes shut.
"What? I went last time!"
"No you didn't, and it was your idea to have kids, therefore all this is your fault".
"That seems like a bit of a stretch, even for you", he laughed, not seeking even an ounce of logic in her statement.
"You're the aca girl, I'm the aca boy and we're gonna have aca children", she imitated. "It's inevitable! Go and deal with those aca children".
"Aca unbelievable". He shook his head in amusement. "You're one of a kind, Mitchell".
"That's Swanson to you", she shot back with a grin.
"Triplets do seven", Jesse sighed, kicking back the blankets and making the way down the stairs to call out to them again.
"Is it just me, or so the cakes get bigger every year?" Fat Amy said conversationally, as Beca brought the cake into the room, Jesse following with the matches. "I mean, I'm not complaining".
"You've outdone yourself lady", Stacie commented, looking at the size of the cake.
"Alright fram, let's do this". Beca sat the cake down, motioning the triplets closer. "Lean in, you love each other".
"Oh, Mum".
"At least pretend to love each other today". Beca shrugged, motioning for Abigail to flick off the lights.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Jack, happy birthday to you!"
Jack grinned, his eyes sparkling in the light of the ten candles. Despite growing up way too fast for their liking, they still saw their sweet, chubbiest NICU baby.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Molly, happy birthday to you!"
Molly grinned cheekily, scrunching her nose up at her best friend on the other side of the room- but Beca and Jesse still saw two and a half year old Molly belting out 'On the Good Ship Lollipop' on the kitchen table in Maine.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Toby, happy birthday to you!"
Toby grinned harder than his brother and sister, smiling so wide his face threatened to crack. He was ten, but he was still the baby that crawled on the carpet and skinned his soft baby skin. He was their daredevil.
"Hip hip, HOORAY!"
Taking deep breaths, the three of them puffed out their ten candles to cheers from their family.
Jesse Swanson took a photo with Instagram: Toby James. The baby of the family, little brother to Connor, Rosie, Isaac, Jack and Molly. The first to crawl, on carpet no less, the daredevil of the three. He is smart and funny and very very cheeky, and will no doubt cause more grief than his mother did as a teenager. Happy birthday Toby, we love you #tobyjames #swansontripletsdoTEN #doubledigits
"Down for the count", Beca said, coming out of Molly's room.
"Out", Jesse said with a grin, motioning towards the boys' rooms. "They're done". He kissed the top of her head, as she leaned into his chest. "Bring on ten?"
"Bring on ten", she yawned.
