My Three Little Miracles, Part 2

GUEST BLOGGER:  Megan J.

My triplet ballerinas are my daughters, Makenna Anne, Jaeli Jo and Maysie Jailyn.
Each day, my three little miracles not only put a smile on my face, but amaze me in so many different ways with their fascinating comments and questions and also with their loving gestures.  Makenna Anne suffers from a sugar intolerance and deals with symptoms of it every day.  Because of this, her emotions can be exaggerated and her actions tactless.  Although she gives us many struggles, we wouldn't give any of it up as it makes her who she is.  She is a very smart, loving, opinionated young lady. She wants to play every sport she possibly can and be the best at it and everything else, always working hard to get it.  I can always count on her for help, no matter what the task may be.  Jaeli Jo recently broke her arm and her favorite thing to do lately is play "Go Fish" with me since she is limited in her activities.  She is known as the "klutz" of the family.  Jaeli is not very athletic, but she did outstanding at baseball this summer so she may surprise us after all.  Jaeli's most favorite toys are anything to do with "Beauty and The Beast", making her favorite color yellow, just like Belle's dress.  Jaeli has a heart of gold that continues to grow and will always be cherished.  Maysie Jailyn is usually pretty laid back like her father and content watching a movie or listening to music and dancing around the house.  She begged to take a dance class, so we signed her up and she loves it.  She is, and always will be, my little monkey, weighing only 3 pounds, 15 ounces when we brought her home from the hospital at 14 days old.  A day with a hug and kiss from Maysie is always a good one!
I couldn't have asked for three daughters more beautiful and loving than my girls.  I look forward to all they will bring to our future.

Beverly's Facebook Page:  The Triplet Ballerinas

My Three Little Miracles, Part 1

GUEST BLOGGER:  Megan J.

My triplet ballerinas are my daughters, Makenna Anne, Jaeli Jo and Maysie Jailyn.
My daughters, these three little miracles, are turning into three beautiful young ladies, each with their own unique personality.  Makenna Anne was the first born. From the moment Makenna took her first breath, she has made her presence known. With the loudest cry and weighing the most of the three, Makenna has had our attention from minute one. She knows what she wants and doesn't give up until she gets it.  Makenna doesn't give affection very often, but when she does, it is amazing. She can be very independent, liking to do things on her own, but she also gets into a great deal of trouble when doing so!  Jaeli Jo was born second.  Jaeli has always melted the hearts of those around her.  She has been by far the easiest of the three, but, occasionally, we get a glimpse of a very powerful temper.  She can be easily reasoned with though and is always looking for ways to make you smile.  She is very silly when trying to make you laugh and cries with you when you are sad.  Many times, I see her reading a book or playing by herself.  I know she enjoys her alone time.  But, when she makes a new friend, she will be their friend for life.  Maysie Jailyn was the last to be born and the smallest.  Maysie has continously showed us what love is all about.  We felt the most heartache with her in the NICU with her bad diaper rash and low sugar.  She always keeps us on our toes.  The drama this girl has just shows how passionate she is. Attention is what she craves.  She loves her one-on-one times and makes it very well known.  She is always giving away hugs and kisses and expects the same in return.
After struggling to get pregnant, then getting pregnant with three little girls at once, I will forever cherish my time with my girls and the love they bring to our lives every day.

Next week: Part 2 of My Three Little Miracles
Beverly's Facebook page:  The Triplet Ballerinas

From "The Triplet Girl" to "The Triplet Ballerinas"

My triplet ballerinas are my triplet grand-daughters, Makenna, Jaeli Jo and Maysie.  In researching what I wanted my picture book story to be about, I took inspiration from where I could find it.  So, one day, when one of the triplets leaped off the couch, the idea of ballet was born.  I started researching ballet and ballerinas and found the book, "Ballerina: A Step-by-Step Guide to Ballet", which was very informative.  I decided to have one of the triplets be the most interested in ballet and the other two girls more interested in horses to make them seem boyish.  I found the book, "For Horse-Crazy Girls Only: Everything You Want to Know About Horses", which was also very informative about horses and ponies.  Sadly, through editing, I had to cut out some scenes that didn't fit and the "leaping off the couch scene" was one of the first to go.  But, it had served its purpose anyway by giving me the idea of ballet and ballerinas.  In one of my early critiques, the horses the girls got for their birthday were called "ponies" instead of "horses".  It dawned on me then that it would probably be better to have the triplets get the smaller, more managable, ponies for their birthday than the bigger horses so the horses became ponies in the story.  At one time, the ponies even had names:  Jamie's (Jaeli) was "Beauty", Macie's (Maysie) was "Ella", and Annie's (Makenna) was "Snow."  But, eventually, I sadly had to cut this scene too.  The real-life triplets were not happy with this since they were the ones to name their counterpart's ponies.   Beverly        
Facebook page:  The Triplet Ballerinas
The next couple weeks I will have a guest blogger of my daughter, Megan, the mother of my triplet grand-daughters.

The Triplet Girl

My triplet ballerinas are my triplet grand-daughters, Makenna, Jaeli Jo and Maysie.  When I first set out to write a children's book, I didn't know what I should write about.  I had my trusty pen and notebook to write down ideas as they came to me.  One day, a lost dog came to the door when the grandkids were here.  I saw how excited they got as they started speculating that maybe a little boy had lost his dog or the dog had run away from home.  I was so sure I found my story even after we found out the dog had just wandered away from his hunter master.  But, as I studied the art of writing and read over and over again, "write what you know and love and what children would find interesting", my thoughts turned to my triplet grand-daughters.  So, I started writing a story based on them.  At first, my story was titled "The Triplet Girl" (yes, I know the title should come later but I needed it to guide me).  It was about two triplet girls who were tomboyish and one "triplet girl" (the main character) who was girly.  The more I started writing about these three girls, though, the more the title of the manuscript bothered me.  What "The Triplet Girl" was about wasn't very clear from the title.  Was one of the triplets a girl and two of them boys?  Was it about triplet girls or maybe even triplet boys?  And then, one day, one of the triplets jumped off the couch and an idea was born......    Beverly         Facebook page:  The Triplet Ballerinas