Sunday, June 26, 2016

12 Months Old!!

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

Saying goodbye


370 days...roughly 1500 hours...around 250 gallons of milk produced. I fed triplets for a whole year (and then some!) Such a bittersweet moment saying goodbye to this damn machine. As much as I look forward to freedom and having TIME for other things, I am simultaneously so sad to be done with this stage. 


Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Happy Birthday Boys!

What a year it's been. So many great memories have been made, and there are plenty more to come! You bring us so much joy, boys. We're so proud to be your parents!! Happy Birthday Will, Griffin, and Cooper! We love you!



Monday, June 20, 2016

364 Days Old

Their final night as "babies".  We enjoyed playing in the backyard with a new birthday toy and had some ice cream. Because they haven't had enough sugar the past couple days. There were definite tears shed (by me, not the babies) as we did bottles and books before I put them down for the last time as infants. I can't believe my babies will be one tomorrow. Time has flown by.




Mr. Cools on the eve of their First Birthday





First Birthday Party Details

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.


 
All their monthly pictures paid off- they looked great hanging up!

Our First Year Wall- we did the math and figured out the numbers...they're obviously not 100% accurate, but pretty darn close!















Will's first word is debatable. Dad thinks it was "dada"; I think it was "baba" (but it is Father's Day weekend, so I let him win.) ;)
Simple banner and balloons
Oreos that match their nicknames


Friday, June 17, 2016

One Year Photo Shoot

We went to see our favorite photographer for the boys' one year photo shoot this afternoon. Krista and Amy did such a great job with the boys, but whoa- was it a lot of work wrangling them! Will and I intended to get a couple shots with the whole family, but by the time we hopped in on the photos we were both pretty gross and sweaty from chasing the boys around...so not sure how those shots will work out! I can't wait to see all the photos from the day. Krista does such a great job with her pictures, and I'm positive we'll have a tough time deciding which ones we like the best.

An up close pic of the cakes that I decorated...they photographed better than they looked in person!
Will's cake

Griffin's cake

Cooper's cake

And a behind-the-scenes peek that I snagged while the boys had their cakes:
Sweet boys

She posted this sneak peek tonight...they are the CUTEST!!
The jeans were a last minute addition...the smash cake outfits I ordered from Etsy never arrived. :(

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Summer Fun

We've been spending quite a bit of time outdoors lately. We did an evening swim session and dinner at our neighborhood pool on Thursday night-


Their high chairs work perfectly at our poolside table. I have a feeling poolside dinners will become a regular occurrence this summer!

 We also bought them a cheap little inflatable baby pool from Wal-mart. The best $8 we have spent so far this summer! They spent about an hour happily splashing around, with only a couple attempts (by Griffin) to go overboard onto the grass! We've had some good sleepers this week. All this outdoor fun is exhausting!


While they all still had their hats on...this was short-lived

Our little explorer- he loved crawling around!

Griffin escaped a couple times, nose-diving straight onto the grass. He thought it was funny.
Cooper had a blast, too! He loves splashing!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Backyard Dining

Will's Aunt Cap is in town this week and came over today to meet the boys. We enjoyed a perfect summer evening and had a BBQ tonight.  The boys got to join us for dinner outside, a first for them! It was great to dine al fresco and really easy to move their triplet table to the patio, which is great news for me and Will. We would love to have them eat outside as much as possible this summer, as the weather allows. We like using our patio table and there is FAR less clean involved on the boys' end- no sweeping and mopping required!




Pasta Salad spice freckles :)

Pasta salad spice freckles :)



Who needs toys when there are solo cups to play with?!



He loves to see himself on the phone

Watching the golfers

Cooper's newest facial expression. He constantly sticks his lower lip out now- it's adorable and awful and hilarious all at the same time!

New Blog Location!

I realized today that I never posted a link to my new website. I’ve decided to try out a new, easier to find website and am now blogging ove...