Have Triplets, Still Travel: June 2016

We officially have 3 one-year olds in the house! I'm terribly behind on posts so I'll just get right to it...

The only way I could get all three in the same shot this time- splicing their picture together!

Not cooperating

Loving their new wagon!

I wish we could afford to get professional pictures all the time! So in love with the previews we've gotten from Krista so far!

Will:

Will is getting better and better at standing on his own for longer periods of time. He still cries almost every time we put him in his crib, or when he knows it's time for bed. He doesn't like to leave us! We're working on expanding their signing vocabulary- Will can now sign both "milk" and "all done"...we're working on "cracker" now. He has started mimicking us when we make noises- last night he thought it was funny to mimic me as I made an elephant noise. Will can be a bit of a bully with his brothers, often pinning them underneath him while they're hanging out together in a crib...but he's also often picked on by his brothers. Mr. Sensitive gets so frustrated when one of his brothers steals a toy away from him! He is still the most shy of the trio, but he's getting better about being in new environments. I expected a couple melt downs at their party last weekend with all the new faces, but he was perfectly content, just quieter than normal. He is wearing 9 and 12 month clothing these days and is actually the smallest of the 3 now, in terms of weight. At their 12 month appointment last week he measured 29 inches and weighs 19 lb, 5 oz.

So sweet when he sleeps

They are all obsessed with the edge pieces of the foam flooring now

Practicing for their one year photos

They LOVE their new lawn mower

And their new riding elephant...and Will loves to hold his new bat, too

Griffin:

Griffin is our heavy weight- he measured 29 inches and weighs 21 lbs, 1 oz. Like Will, he's getting better and better about standing for longer spells but he's not ready for walking quite yet. He is "talking" to us more and more these days. He will babble and babble to us and it really does seem like he has something to say (if only we could understand him!). He also mimics a lot of what we say- currently we're working on "Uh Oh!" (since they fall roughly 100 times a day). And his mouth- Griffin is SO LOUD. He loves, loves, loves to yell. A lot. Little Griffin has discovered how to use his teeth as a weapon...we have a biter on our hands now. And both Daddy and I can vouch for the fact that his teeth HURT when he chomps down. No fingers are safe near his mouth, including his brothers' fingers. We're now trying to figure out how to discipline a baby to not bite, while teaching the other babies to keep their fingers away from Griffin's mouth if they don't want to be bitten! His current favorite toy is the edge pieces of the foam floor we have in our bonus room. He (and Will) will play with them for long stretches at a time these days. Griffin's motto lately is why have one, when you can have several? He prefers to hoard his (and his brothers') toys. He can still wear 9 month clothes, but we have almost fully transitioned him to 12 month outfits.

Baller

The more he can hold, the better

Texas onesie

He loves riding the elephant, too!

Contemplating life

Mr. Cool

Cooper:

Cooper is no longer the smallest guy, at least not in weight! As of last week he is 28 inches and 19 lbs., 8 oz. He is soooo very close to walking, but just isn't quite there yet. He can stand on his own for long stretches of time, but when it comes to moving around he prefers to get back down and crawl. In the past couple days he has started using their walker to actually walk around instead of just playing with it. We keep saying he'll be walking in no time...maybe in the next couple weeks?! Cooper is also mimicking us a lot these days- the other afternoon we were getting him to say "slam dunk!" as he was playing with their new basketball hoop. He is very good at signing and saying "all done." He has so many teeth now- 6 total (4 up and 2 down)! He's been easily irritated by Griffin lately- he is NOT a fan of Griffin's screaming/yelling, especially when they're eating. Speaking of eating, Cooper's newest trick is intentionally throwing his food over the edge of the table onto the floor. He is SO proud of himself when he does it- it's hard to keep a straight face when we reprimand him! He's still comfortably wearing some 6 month clothing, but has moved up to some 9 and 12 month items, too.

Grocery shopping with Mama

Shocking- he loves to ride the elephant, too.

Another baller

Bedtime stories with Grandma

Showing off all his teeth

Always on the move

We have given the boys more free reign in the bonus room as they are increasingly not OK with being confined to the baby jails for long periods of time. We have a makeshift baby gate to keep them safely contained in the room while they explore and play with all their new birthday toys. Of course with all the fun, new toys available to them, all three boys are drawn to the one part of the bonus room that they shouldn't touch- the speakers and TV stand. We spend a lot of time moving them away from that area. They certainly know when they're doing something they shouldn't be and will usually watch for Will or me while they're up to no good. They can follow some simple commands and have started waving "hi" and "bye bye" on demand. Griffin is especially adorable when he waves "bye" because he waves to himself. They love eating and will still pretty much eat anything we offer them. The pediatrician encouraged us to move them away from bottles and to start feeding them 3 solid meals and 2 snacks a day so in the past week we've dropped their daytime bottles. They don't seem to miss the morning and afternoon bottles at all, but it definitely feels like all we do these days is feed them! We're quickly moving through my frozen milk stash, but have extended its life by only giving them breast milk at night. During the day we offer them whole milk with their meals. They still aren't sold on the whole milk, but we'll keep working on it. They've been really great about adjusting to this new schedule- our babies are turning into little boys more and more each day!

At 12 months we:

Are expanding our vocabulary and talking more and more
Can all stand on their own for short stints of time
Love to play with all our new toys- the noisier the better!
Drink out of sippy cups or straw cups during meals
Love to eat- which is good because they are eating a lot now!
Enjoy their daily walks
Can wave "hi" and "bye bye"
Love swimming
Love to ride in their new Radio Flyer wagon

I didn't have a theme in mind when it came to decorating for the boys' birthday party. I knew I wanted to display all their month-by-month photos and it turned out that they fit perfectly in the space between our kitchen and living room, so that's where they went. And I wanted to somehow display some stats about their first year. I thought about doing it like a chalkboard that I've seen on Pinterest, but I had printer paper and colored pencils and decided that would be easier and less stressful than trying to recreate a chalkboard on my own. The banners I stenciled with blue acrylic paint. All in all, I was happy with the way things turned out, especially because I didn't envision any of it ahead of time- I just sort of started throwing things together.