14 Months Updates

While I'm not formally taking pictures and posting updates of the boys each month, I still like the idea of monthly check ins to document how the boys are growing and developing. So here are some snippets of how life is going for us right now:

• Our once great eaters are starting to become more selective and picky. And unfortunately what they don't like goes straight to the floor. It's simultaneously hilarious and maddening to watch them while they look you dead in the eye and throw their food off their plate. Cooper is especially bad about doing this. He will try a food, then make an over exaggerated, disgusted face, yank it out of his mouth with his hand, and finally toss it to the floor with a flourish. I can't help but laugh every time he does it, which I know doesn't help things. He just has so much sass!

  

  It's hard to stay mad when he flashes that smile

• They are using sign language every day. Will is definitely the best about it. He can now sign "More", "Cracker", "All Done", and "Please." And "cracker" and "cracker" and "cracker" again. We're working on "book" right now, too. We've decided that he probably thinks "cracker" means "any food" and he has quickly learned that signing "cracker" means that he'll likely get a little something to eat, especially if he pairs his "cracker" request with "more" and "please". I have said this before but it is so fascinating to see how smart they are and how quickly they can catch on to things! Cooper and Griffin will sign, too, but they don't have the expanded vocabulary that Will has. 
• We try not to let them watch a lot of TV, but there are some days when I will put on their Baby Signing Time DVD to distract them while we are meal prepping. They pretty much hate everything about being in the baby jail area downstairs but we don't have any other options to contain them while we are getting their meals ready, so they're stuck in the small space. The DVD is a nice distraction from the screaming and crying. I also recently learned from a friend that Baby Einstein movies are available on YouTube. I took advantage of that the other day, too. I certainly don't want to make TV as a distraction a habit...but some days I'm more OK with it than others.

  

  Some days you just need Baby Signing Time to help you get dinner ready

• Everyone is walking well lately. Cooper and Griffin are the most sure-footed, though Will is starting to prefer walking to crawling lately, too. Just like he was a fast crawler, Griffin is our fast walker. He definitely gets ahead of himself and is almost running before he topples over.

  

  Besides his feet, the elephant is another favorite mode of transportation lately

• For some reason lately they LOVE to be on the couch. Probably for closer access to banging on the window. They've started teaching themselves to get off the couch by going down backwards.

  

  Bang Bang

• Speaking of "down"- that's a new word for Will lately. He often says "dow-yune"when he wants to be picked up or put down. We're working on teaching him what up means now, too.
•  They are all babbling quite a bit these days and will say words like "Mama" and "Dada" on command. Quiet time at our house is rare these days; any time the boys are up, they are talking, screaming, laughing, or yelling. I love hearing a house so full of life! I rode in the back with the boys the other day and caught a video of a particularly chatty Will:

• Griffin has had some separation anxiety issues lately. Little man HATES to be alone! He can't be the first to go into the car when we're loading them up and it doesn't go over well when we leave him alone in a room for a couple minutes. He prefers to have us nearby. He is still fond of having something soft to cuddle with when he's tired and wants to suck this thumb. He's not particularly attached to any one item...as long as it's soft he will snuggle it. He'll often cuddle the shirt he's wearing in a pinch. It's pretty cute to see his little belly stick out when he pulls his shirt up to cuddle.

  

  Any soft thing will do!

• Griffin has also started to become a bit attached to a jelly cat that was gifted to him by our friends Jess, Ryan, and their son Ben (who has a well-loved jelly cat of his own). They got each boy their own stuffie when the boys were infants, and ironically Griffin has latched on to the one that he was intended to have- a Giraffe for Griffin. He's started taking it to bed with him at night, and it's about the cutest thing ever. Will and Cooper will start with blankets and stuffies in their crib but almost immediately throw them out. Griffin will usually keeps them in bed with him all night long. I keep meaning to send a pic to Jess, but I know she reads this blog, so I'm sure she'll be happy to read this note. :)
• The boys are obsessed with certain toys right now- a purple phone that they love to carry around and pretend to talk on, a yellow bat that they love to bang on the window or the wall, and a yellow bucket that they love to talk into and wear on their heads. Not sure why they've decided these toys are so great right now, but the really love to play with them.

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• They are playing with each other more and more. And with that comes more and more fighting. They all tend to gravitate toward the same toys (and more often- the toys that we only have one of), which usually ends in someone crying frustrated tears, or trying to bite one another. On the flip side, they entertain each other more and more now, too. The other night Will was cracking up at Cooper while they were playing in their tent. It melts my heart to hear them laughing. Here's an example of them simultaneously playing AND fighting with each other:

• And speaking of laughing, this mama will do pretty much anything over and over (and over) again to hear these boys laugh. They think it is hilarious when I pretend to eat their oranges and pucker my lips up in a "sour" face:
• Cooper was sick a few weeks ago with a high temperature that kept us all night. He was screaming in his crib if we tried to put him down, he wouldn't lay with us in bed if we tried to put him down with us, he didn't want milk, he didn't want to play...he just felt miserable which in turn made us feel awful. He finally fell asleep at 6:30 AM. We took him to the doctor in the morning but they couldn't find anything wrong with him and he quickly got over the fever about 36 hours later. This was the first time in a LONG time that we've pulled an all nighter, and certainly the first time we've been up with a sick baby. It made me appreciate our normally sleeping through the night children! At any rate, during his all-nighter he taught himself how to whine and now he whines all.the.time. 

  

  4:45 AM. By this point I'd given up on trying to get him to sleep and had turned the lights on

  
  

  

  FINALLY sleeping at 6:30 AM zzzzzzz

• We are in the 3rd week of ISR swim lessons. It's a very demanding schedule of being up and having the boys fed no later than 7:30, then out the door by 9:15 for their lessons. Will has been doing a great job on his own most days, and has yet to be late to the lessons, which is pretty impressive. We've learned quickly that organization is key and being prepped and ready as best we can the night before we go anywhere is the best way to make sure we don't forget anything and aren't late! We had hoped the boys would be able to learn the "swim, float, swim" method of ISR, but their instructor Donna decided last week to just teach them to float. They weren't picking up on her swim cues quickly enough so we will just focus on floating for now and will move on to swimming once they are older. We aren't allowed to take pictures during the lessons but I did snap this one on Day 1:

  

  Waiting their turn

• The lessons are typically held in a private pool but on inclement weather days Will has to take them to an indoor pool for their lessons. I think this email I got from him last week pretty well sums up his opinion of taking the boys to lessons at the public pool: "Civic center swim lessons suck. Old ladies everywhere wanting to talk and touch babies; old men naked in the locker room wanting to talk. Ugh. And no changing tables anywhere so have to put them on the benches in the locker room. Double up the towels and changing pad from the diaper bag but still ugh. #twomoreweeks"
• They still love books, and will ask you to read the same book over and over and over again. Sometimes forcefully. If you put a book down when you're done reading, they will often pick it back up, walk over and open your hand up and put the book back in your hand to read. I love that they enjoy books, though, and will gladly read to them as often as they want us to!
  

  

  I can't put him in his crib at night, but I am allowed to hold him if I'll read him a book!

  
  

  
  

  
  

   
• We have been working with our photographer to get prints from their one year photo shoot ordered. I love, love, love these shots that Krista captured of the boys, which is making it difficult to decide which ones to blow up!

  

  photo credit: Krista Lee Photography

  
  

  

  photo credit: Krista Lee Photography

  
  

  

  photo credit: Krista Lee Photography

  
  

  

  photo credit: Krista Lee Photography

  
  

  

  photo credit: Krista Lee Photography

  
  

  

  photo credit: Krista Lee Photography

Friends Day

Will and I were long overdue for a friends' weekend so we arranged for Cari and Sharon to watch the boys for us so we could have a fun day on the lake. We try to get together with this group about once a month for dinner. In reality, I think the last time we saw everyone was around Christmas. It's just not that easy to wrangle everyone up these days! Our friend Michael is gearing up to leave town soon to do a long stint of traveling- he'll be hiking one last section of the Appalachian Trail in order to complete it and then will be hitting up several states on an extended road trip. So we were bound and determined to get some time in with him before he leaves us!

According to Cari they had a great day and read Brown Bear, Brown Bear about 100 times. It's a definite favorite book among the Mason boys these days!

We captured the first of many readings!

The weather was 100% NOT good boating weather, but we decided to go out anyway. When we only get one day off from parenting here and there we can't let a little bad weather stop us from enjoying the day! One bonus of rainy days on the water- we pretty much had the whole lake to ourselves!

Snuggled under the canopy in the pouring rain

Braving the downpour

Dancing in the rain

Breaking in the new UT hat

So. Cold.

Despite the poor weather, we had a great day on the water and decided to take extra advantage of the babysitters! We ended up going down to Nashville for dinner with the crew, too. In retrospect it was an ambitious plan, likely fueled by the excitement of being with friends (and beer). We were all pretty worn out at dinner and more than ready to head to bed. We had a fun time, though, and as a bonus- we now know we can easily catch an Uber ride home for a reasonable rate! Huge thanks to Cari and Sharon for taking care of the boys for us. We always feel recharged after some time away to be grown ups!

Perspective

We sold Cooper's infant car seat today. Cue sad tears from me. These were the very first baby items that we brought home after learning about the triplets. Before we passed the car seat onto the new owner we had to take a couple final shots of him in his seat, just to see how much he's grown!

Taking him home from the hospital at 12 days old:

And now, 14 months old today!

14 Months

Team Work

The dreaded day has come...the boys have figured out how to move the baby jail around by teaming up and pushing it together. While I'm delighted they are practicing team work, I am bummed they've picked up this particular habit!

We've been so good about keeping them contained in the baby jail downstairs that we never got around to baby proofing the downstairs. That's likely going to have to change very soon. The only way the baby jail is going to be around for much longer is if we find creative ways to use the play yard pieces as baby gates. Yet another indicator of just how quickly things are changing these days!

Weekend Warriors

We packed this past weekend full of fun activities with family. We enjoyed a quick visit from Papa, Grandma, Uncle Shaughn, and Ella:

We played with our sunglasses (we really enjoy our accessories lately!):

Cooper

Will

Griffin

We took some fashion risks (not sure if the world is ready for shorts as hats):

And we frolicked around at the park when we went to watch Avery's soccer game:

Toddler Olympics

The Mason boys have been getting very into the Summer Olympics. They've got their own interpretation of the different sports we've been watching on TV the past week:

Practicing their interview skills (it's good to be bi-lingual):

Synchronized Diving (though not quite in unison):

Relay (good communication among teammates is key):

On the starting block

Wrestling

Basketball

Fencing

Backstroke

Equestrian

Sprinting

Getting advice from the Coach

Gymnastics

Vaulting

High Jump

Hats

Sometimes you just want to rock a hat on a Tuesday evening. The boys recently decided that they love to wear hats and will actually keep them on for long stints of time! I think we need to get them some baseball hats next. 

Random Notes

No rhyme or reason to this post, just want to jot down some things about the boys at this particular age (roughly 13 months):

• They are becoming more interested in books every day. Their attention span is improving and they'll sometimes crawl into my lap while I read. Yesterday Griffin wanted me to read "Old MacDonald" to him about 8 times in a row. I'd finish it, put it down, and he would pick it right back up and put it in my hands. I love that they're starting to enjoy reading books!
• Will has started signing "more" to us (when prompted)- it's adorable.
• Cooper is in full-blown toddler mode now- he walks with ease everywhere these days. Griffin can take more and more steps each day, but isn't quite as steady as Cooper. Will isn't as interested in walking yet, though he will try to take steps every day.
• Will made us laugh last night as we were trying to get him to walk about 10 feet between me and Daddy. He took a few steps away from me...decided it was a bit too far to walk...got down on the floor and crawled until he was about 2 steps away, then stood up and walked the rest of the way. Smart kid.
• Cari and Sue made a ball pit for the boys using their inflatable pool while we were out of town last week. We hadn't opened the balls because I didn't want to let them play with them until they were older and less inclined to spend time throwing them out of the pit (and leaving us to clean them up!). They l-o-v-e playing in the ball pit, though, so I don't have the heart to take it away from them. They particularly love when there's an "earthquake" that shakes all the balls around. And (as expected) Will and I spend a lot of time putting balls back into the pit. :)
• All three boys love when we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" lately- they also will often participate in the hand-clapping part.
• Griffin is especially fond of any kind of music these days and will wiggle around and dance if music is playing.
• They know our evening routine so well now that they will hand me their toothbrushes as soon as Will finishes reading "Night Night Pookie"- melt my heart...it's SO cute!
• Will loves playing with me in the evenings when I get home from work, but after dinner until he goes down for bed he pretty much wants nothing to do with me. He cries when I change him into his PJs, and he'll often cry when we all sit in the baby jail to brush teeth. He definitely cries as soon as the bedtime books are over. He'll stop crying and cuddle with Daddy while he says his goodnights and then screams when I take him away to put him down. And he'll cry when I put him in the crib for the night. It breaks my heart to see him so upset. Putting them in their cribs at night has been my "thing" since they were born, but the past couple nights I've made Dad put Will in his crib...and there are no tears. I won't lie- it kind of hurts my feelings that he doesn't like me at bedtime. But I'm trying not to be offended by his new preference for his Daddy. 
• We have biters in the house now- Griffin and Will are both biting these days. It's the worst...and it hurts!
• Favorite new activity for the boys: storing toys in various spots. They have quite a collection of balls sitting in the seat of the exersaucer. And under all the couches and chairs in the play room. And inside the glider. (Did I mention we have a lot of balls now?!) The other night we found "Goodnight Moon" and "Night Night Pookie" hiding in the storage seat of their elephant scoot around toy. 
• We have been letting the boys sleep with their BOCO blankets and a little teething stuffed toy at night. Will and Cooper throw both out of their crib pretty much the second we lay them down, but Griffin sleeps with his blanket all night. He just loves having something soft to cuddle with while he sucks his thumb!
• We tried to put shoes on the boys the other day. Molly gave us a big bag of Liam's old shoes so I just hunted through the pile to find a few pairs that would fit the boys. They loved to help me look through the bag and pick out shoes, but no one was particularly excited about actually wearing them. All three of them spent a lot more energy trying to get the shoes off their feet than keeping them on!
• Speaking of shoes...Cooper thinks the "stinky shoes and feet" game is hilarious. He laughs and laughs and laughs if you smell his feet and crinkle up your nose and tell him he's stinky!
• Speaking of nose crinkling, Cooper and Griffin both crinkle their noses a lot now.
• They all find it hilarious when you say "Ahhh" after taking a drink. Cooper especially loves to mimic the "ahh" sound.
• Griffin is still our little Bam Bam- he really enjoys banging things around. The louder the bang he can make, the more he enjoys banging.
• Will has two more teeth popping in up top- bringing his grand total to (almost) 6
• Griffin has started mimicking us when we say "Uh oh", though it sounds more like (ahhh uhhhh)
• Their radio flyer wagon has quickly become a favorite for us. We still love the triplet stroller, but the wagon is way more convenient to pack in the car, and the boys really enjoy being pulled around in it. I've been able to venture out of the house alone with the trio to run errands, and we've started doing runs to the grocery store or Sam's all together, which feels so incredibly freeing and normal. Granted, taking them with us to run errands makes everything take about 5 times longer than it would if we were alone- about 3x longer dealing with loading and unloading babies...and about 2x longer dealing with all the people who stop us to comment, talk, ask questions, point and stare, etc... I know it won't happen anytime soon, but I look forward to when we can somewhat fly under the radar when we go out and about.
• The boys start their ISR swim lessons next week. The lessons run 5 days a week, and each baby's individual lesson is 10 minutes long. The next 4 weeks, give or take, will be intense. Their lessons start at 10 am, and they can't eat for 1.5 hours prior (or have dairy 2 hours prior). That means Will will have to have them up and eating breakfast by 7:30 each morning so they have time to digest their food. For babies who are usually still fast asleep at that time, this will be an adjustment. They have dietary restrictions for the weeks that they're in "training"- among other things, they aren't allowed to have pineapple or spinach. For babies who eat spinach mixed with fruits or vegetables almost every day, this will be an adjustment. We have to keep "BUDS" documentation for each baby- tracking their bowel, urine, diet, and sleep patterns. For parents who just finished documenting all that for the first year of their life in our triplet book (and have enjoyed not having to keep such close track of it!), this will be an adjustment.  Then Will will need to get all 3 into swim diapers and their swim gear, collect 9(!) towels, their documentation, etc...and have them out the door no later than 9:30. Every. Single.Day. It is very overwhelming for me to think about, and I won't even really be dealing with it! I scheduled myself to take off the 1st morning of their lessons so I could help Will get everyone ready and out the door for the first lesson (they were supposed to start tomorrow.) However, the lesson start date was postponed by a week, and I have meetings scheduled at that time so I likely won't be able to go. It is so disappointing and definitely one of those moments where I feel like I'm "missing" out on one of their milestones. If I'm being honest, I think I'd be OK not watching the lessons as the Youtube videos I've seen TERRIFY me. But I feel for Will, who is going to have a rough 4 weeks, and wish I could be around to help him. Will isn't very excited about this new schedule, either, but we agree that these lessons are important and worth it. God willing we won't have to worry about it ever, but we want the boys to know what to do if they should fall into water.
• I've written quite a bit more than I intended to, so I think I'll leave this post with some pictures of the boys from today. I let them do some exploring downstairs (they very rarely get free reign on the 1st floor)...they traveled in a little herd and thoroughly enjoyed opening and closing kitchen cabinets and staring out the windows. :)
 

Must try out every door and cabinet

And help slam the doors shut, too!






Good night cuddles with Daddy