19 Months Old

Again, on the eve of their turning 20 months, here's a quick peek at life right now with our 19 month olds:

• The boys are at a very affectionate age! They've recently started blowing kisses, and it's about the sweetest thing ever. They will also give us hugs on demand, and occasionally a smooch or two.
• If Cooper falls down lately, he'll often cry and come over to one of us for a kiss, then go about his business, all better. Similarly, if Will falls, he will cry and come over to us and have one of us kiss his finger (regardless of what part of his body he bumped) and then he's OK.
• They are all climbers these days, but Griffin is the one who gives us mild heart attacks every day. He is such a daredevil! Will caught him climbing into their play kitchen sink the other day. He is a little kamikaze and has no issues flinging himself onto or off-of objects. 
• They love messing with the computer area in the kitchen lately. I left them for a minute last week, and came back to find that Griffin had pulled over one of our tall kitchen table chairs to the computer area, and climbed up onto the chair so he could mess with the printer and mouse. 
• They love, love, love Baby Signing Time and ask us to watch it constantly- signing "baby" and saying "Bae? Bae? Bae?" over and over again.
• Watching those DVDs has certainly paid off, though! Their signing vocabulary continues to grow, which is also helping their word vocabulary, too. They can sign (and say): bird, cat, dog, play, sleep, eat, drink, please, thank you, sorry, car, friend, share, cracker, milk, juice, pear, apple, cookie, water, banana, cereal, all done, potty, shoes, hat, ball, bath, bear, wash hands, brush teeth, book, nice, hot, cold, game, telephone, stop, go, and music.
• All three boys could use their first hair cut. Griffin is most in need- he's rocking a particularly impressive mullet. I have suggested many times that we take him in for his first cut, but Will has firmly declined the idea. I am not sure if it's a "holding onto the baby" thing, or if it's that he wants all 3 to get their hair cut at the same time, but whatever his reason is- I'm going to let him decide when the time is right. Will often accepts that I have trouble letting go of baby things (things like holding on to their infant clothes, sobbing over selling their car seats, keeping bottles around that we no longer use, etc...) so I'm going to let him have this one. Don't get me wrong- it makes me sad to get rid of their baby hair, but I also think it's past time for Griffin to get his first trim. 
• Boys after their mama's heart: they have discovered a love of ranch dressing. I give them some ranch in hopes of getting them to eat more vegetables or chicken. Instead, they will literally scoop the ranch up with their fingers and eat it by itself. And when Cooper's done with his ranch, he'll reach over and help himself to Will's ranch, too. They also really love hummus lately, and use the same finger-full approach to eating it, even when offered crackers to help them scoop it up.
• Speaking of eating, very little eating seems to happen these days. What they love one day, they won't touch the next. And they have developed an annoying (and yet oh-so-funny) habit of throwing food over the side of their table, and then sweetly saying "bye bye!" while waving. Griffin is especially bad about clearing out his part of the table with one giant sweep of his arms. Meals have become very trying on our patience lately! Their favorite foods right now, besides ranch dressing and hummus, are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, yogurt, string cheese, and smoothies. And cookies of any kind. 
• Speaking of meal times, we have separated them again. Griffin has a tendency to pick on the brother that gets stuck in the middle seat of the triplet table. We spent many mealtimes refereeing the boys, and often yelling at Griffin to stop biting or picking on his (usually crying) brother. We brought our clip on high chair back out and have started rotating one baby in the high chair during meals. What.a.difference. Meals are so much more relaxing and quiet now that all 3 boys have their own space. I worried that they would see sitting separately at the island as a punishment, but they love sitting over there and will often protest if they get put in the triple table instead of the high chair.
• Cooper has recently formed an attachment to his own stuffed animal- a little brown bear that his great Auntie Ann gave us before the boys arrived. It's funny because we have 3 of the same bear, just different colors. But he only has eyes for the dark haired bear. He will bring it to bed with him, and like Griffin, will insist on bringing it downstairs with him for meals.
• I started a little game with the boys a couple weeks ago where I'd say "shhhhhh" and put my finger to my lips so we could listen for sounds (birds outside, an airplane, daddy coming up the stairs, etc...). They now "shh" us often so we are all very quiet and listen for noises.
• Now that the weather is warming up, we're starting up our neighborhood walks again. It feels good to get out of the house! And the boys are enjoying the walks, seemingly more than they used to. Now they are very observant and will point out all the things they see- birds, dogs, "tucks" (they LOVE trucks!). 
• I've also started taking one of them outside with me to get the mail when I arrive home from work. Will, especially, loves to go with me to get the "mae".
• We have officially transitioned the boys down to one nap during the day. I'll have to write up a separate day in the life post that highlights our new schedule. While Will and I really loved the 2 nap schedule (meaning 2 breaks for us!), the boys weren't sleeping all the long. It seemed like they were ready to transition before we were! 
• They love baths and request them almost every night...but we're still only bathing them twice a week. 
• Their favorite seat in their playroom right now is the windowsill next to the couch. They can perch themselves on the windowsill and look at everything outside. Only one can really fit up there at a time where their feet still touch the couch, but they sure try to cram two or more on to the seat by shimmying into the corner spot!
• All three love to jump these days. Sometimes on their mini trampoline (which has recently been removed from the playroom due to misuse) and often in their cribs. They can actually jump really high in their cribs when they hold onto the side rails!
• Will is still our little sweetheart. The way he looks at you with his big blue eyes can just melt your heart! He loves to talk and is getting very good at using his signs along with the actual word. I noticed the other day that he is really starting to form opinions and is getting better about sharing them with us. I gave him milk during breakfast the other morning, and he pushed it aside and signed and asked for "duice" instead. I love that we can communicate like this now! He is still our little shy guy in public, but he has a big personality at home. His laugh is infectious- it's so adorable when he gets excited about something and starts laughing! While he is not our "biter", he has certainly pulled out the chompers from time to time. He has started flipping around on the changing table during diaper changes, but he can be easily distracted with a book or toy. Will still loves his Dada the most; every night I am allowed to say goodnight and take him over to see their "ter-tuh" Tranquil Turtle, but as soon as he's seen the turtle, it's immediately back Dada's arms to go into the crib. And any morning when I come in the room to wake them up, his first question is "Dada?" Will loves "talking" on the phone- he is almost always talking to either Papa or Dada. 
• Griffin. Oh how Griffin can try our patience! He can be the sweetest little boy in the world one minute, and then one minute later go into crazy mode and attack his brothers. We are still having issues with his biting. He bites when he's mad, when he's excited, or when he's playing. He is starting to understand that he hurts his brothers when we catch him in the act and discipline him. But a lot of times we aren't aware the biting is happening and only find out when the bitten brother cries and runs over to us. He's also started hitting us in the face when we're holding him. Again, he'll do it when he's mad or excited- it's just his way of showing emotions. Like I mentioned above, he's also our daredevil who loves a good climbing surface. And he's gotten very good at ignoring us when we say something he doesn't want to hear, like "don't climb on the chairs". He is our little Hercules- I honestly can't believe how strong he is! Just yesterday he tore the cabinet door off their play kitchen sink. Diaper changes have become a big struggle with Griffin. He hates sitting still and will fight you the entire time you're trying to change his diaper. We have tried distracting him with books, random objects, even our phones to get him to hold still for us. He can seriously make you want to pull your hair out just trying to do a simple change. As much as he is a source of frustration, he is also so much fun at this age! He can be the most cuddly of the trio, and loves to be read to. He'll curl up on your lap for a long period of time if you're reading to him. And he is great at giving big bear hugs, and positioning his face so you can smother him in kisses. 
• Cooper is just a ball of energy, from the time he wakes up until he goes to sleep. He loves to jump, all the time. On any surface. It's a toss up between Cooper and Will for who asks for Baby Signing Time the most, but I'd have to give it to Cooper for being the most persistent. As I said above, he's recently developed an affinity for his "ba ba" baby bear, and will sleep with him in his crib at night. He has recently started saying "I love you" back to us, and I melt every time I hear his little voice say, "Eye-ewe". He is fantastic at making animal sounds and can very accurately moo, bah, hoot, tweet, bark, oooh, oooh, ahhh, ahhh, and growl (which covers lions, tigers, bears, and dinosaurs)- but the funniest impression he's caught on to is beating his chest like a gorilla.  He still enjoys being close to his mom and dad when he can, and still really enjoys being an only child whenever possible. While Will and Griffin distinctly ask to be picked up ("Up, pweeeee"), Cooper has a different way of saying it: "Ba, pweeee". He loves to blow kisses, and tell us "bye byeeee" as he runs away from us. Cooper is not a biter like his brothers, in fact he manages to avoid most fights with his brothers. He is pretty laid back- even when one of his brothers steals a toy he's playing with. He will either not care, and move on to a different toy, or throw a little crying fit, but quickly get over it. He's not one to retaliate. He's becoming a bit of a mama's boy, which I'm totally OK with- I can often count on him to give me hugs and kisses on demand. 

Human Climbing Post

The boys have recently started using me as a big climbing gym. It, of course, started with our little climber Griffin, but Will and Cooper have both enjoyed doing it, too. They are learning how to say "Stop" and "Go" in our most recent Baby Signing Time DVD, which you can hear them say in the video. :)

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things...

The boys have entered their "we must destroy everything possible" phase. Will has sent me these photos in the past week while I am at work:

Yes, that is Cooper underneath the trampoline that Will is on top of

Baby jail isn't even a safe spot for keeping toys away 

Why play at the sink when you can crawl inside of it?!

RIP, tent. They destroyed it last week.

Griffin doesn't only bite his brothers...

Reflecting

As I was pulling up Griffin's newborn car seat pictures, I couldn't help but look back at some other pictures from 2015. The first half of the year was all about my pregnancy while the second half was all about the babies. I can't believe I wrote this post exactly 2 years ago. It doesn't seem right that the boys have been part of our lives for over 2 years now. And it certainly doesn't seem right that I haven't been pregnant for over 19 months now!

Isn't it funny how time can mess with your mind? It seems the further we get from my pregnancy, the more I miss being pregnant (and mourn the fact that I'll never experience it again). I can, and often do, go back and re-read my blog posts where I checked in every week of my pregnancy. I know when I wrote those posts, I was trying my hardest to be honest about how I was feeling each week so I could accurately document my experience. But as I go back and read the posts, instead of feeling relief that those days are over, I feel a longing. I so miss feeling little (and big) kicks when the boys moved around. I miss having my sidekicks with me constantly. I suppose this is why people have more than one baby!

As I mentioned in my last post, I know in my head that our family is complete. Heck, I was always the first to say that I wanted no more than 3 kids! I certainly never expected to get all 3 at once, though! I wouldn't trade our experience or our babies for all the money in the world. The boys came into our lives as God intended them to, and I am thankful every single day that we were blessed with 3 healthy, happy babies. I love our family and know that life will continue to be fun and exciting with our 3 boys for many many years to come.

But for tonight I am allowing myself to be sad. Sad that I just sold our infant car seat after only one round of use. Sad that I'll never feel another baby disturb my sleep and push on my bladder all night. Sad that I'll never have to shop at a maternity store again. Sad that the boys will never know the excitement of having a baby sibling to love. Sad that Will and I will never know the excitement of having family on standby, ready to race over and watch the boys for us so we can get to the hospital to meet our newest addition. Sad I'll never have to use the damn pump that I swore I wore out after a year of use. Sad that we won't relive those first sleepless nights of a newborn in the house. Sad that we'll never have itty bitty baby clothes in the closet. Sad that for all the "firsts" we joyfully experience as the boys grow, we are also experiencing them for the last time, too. Who knew that something as innocent as selling a car seat could stir up so many emotions?!

As I mentioned above, I found myself looking at pregnancy pictures as I looked for a photo of Griffin in his car seat for the first time. Since I'm allowing myself to be sad tonight, I am also allowing myself to reflect on my big ol' pregnant belly that I rocked for the first half of 2015. I remember when I posted my weekly check in blogs that I was embarrassed to share some pregnancy photos. Instead of being proud of my body for carrying 3 humans, I focused on the fact that I looked fat and gross and worried that was what others would think when they saw these pictures, too. Well, screw that. I love looking at these photos now. Perhaps it's the wave of nostalgia that has come over me tonight but I've decided that I want to document these pictures on my blog. Some of these did get posted during my pregnancy, but there are quite a few that I kept in hiding. I hope I will come back to this post on days when I'm feeling down and need a reminder of what an incredible ride the boys and I went on to get where we are today!

 

 

Perspective, part 3

We sold the last infant car seat today. Oh, how that makes me sad! In my head I know we are done having babies, but my heart definitely didn't want to admit it this afternoon as I passed the car seat on to another family!

So now, a final perspective shot of our Griffin Bear in his first car seat:

Griffin- coming home from the NICU at 14 days old:

Cramming my big ol' postpartum self into the back seat on the ride home

Griffin- 19 months old:

Llama Llama

As part of our bedtime routine, we read the boys 3-4 bedtime books each night while they brush their teeth. Usually we'll mix it up and read some combination of The Going to Bed Book, Good Night Moon, Night Night Forest Friends, I'll See You in the Morning, and we always finish with Night-Night Little Pookie. Llama Llama Red Pajama was an Imagination Library book that the boys received in the mail a couple months ago. They fell in love with it immediately, and it's now the one book that they request by name every night (Mama, Mama, Mama), and every day, too. Not sure why they love it so much, but I personally love their reactions to the story as it goes on. I had Will record them tonight as I read the story. Admittedly, they were more subdued than they typically are when we read the book. They tend to get pretty excited when baby Llama really worries about where his mama is. I love this age!

18 Months Old!

A year and a half old already?! I honestly can't believe how fast they are growing up these days. Some notes about the boys at 18 months:

Will, 18 monthsDesign

Griffin, 18 months

Cooper, 18 months

• Their vocabulary continues to grow each day. They are starting to put together phrases- Will and Griffin will both say "up, pwease!" when they want to be picked up, complete with a very dramatic signing of "Please". Their sign language vocabulary is also growing. They pick up on things from watching their Signing Time DVDs that I don't even realize that they know, which is fun. Out of nowhere the other day Will signed and said "Pway" (play). He now requests to go pway as soon as he's done eating or while we're changing his diaper. They know how to sign and say "hot" and will point to the oven and repeat "hot hot hot" over and over again. Pretty sure that they don't realize what hot means yet, but glad they are relating the word to an off-limits item like the oven.
  
• They have watched Will and I fill up our water bottles at the refrigerator and are just tall enough that they can reach up and push the water dispenser. Thankfully we can lock it but there have been a few occasions when we've forgotten to and the guilty baby ends up soaked!
• I came home from work the other night to find the boys dressed like Texans. I had to take some pics and share them with my Texas grandparents!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Griffin has developed a strong attachment to his Jellycat, Raffi. He will bring it around with him all day, and sleeps with it every night. We take it away from him during meals, but as soon as he is out of his high chair, he's reaching for Raffi again. Raffi is one toy that is, for the most part, off-limits to Will and Cooper...he belongs to Griffin. Will has a woolly mammoth and Cooper has a cat, but neither of them have development the attachment that Griffin has to his Raffi. They won't even keep their Jellycats in their cribs with them- they get tossed out almost immediately. I guess time will tell if they develop the same affection for their Jellycats that Griffin has for his.
  
  
  
  
  
•  Their relatively picky eating continues. They will still eat just about any fruit we offer them, though we did learn that Cooper is not a fan of clementines. He'll eat mandarin oranges out of a can, but won't touch fresh cuties. We gave them blackberries last week for the first time. Cooper and Griffin devoured them, but Will wasn't as into them. There are very few vegetables that they will eat these days. They, of course, enjoy french fries (regular or sweet potato) and will eat butternut squash, but haven't been as interested in roasted sweet potatoes, which were previously a go-to veggie for us. We recently started buying the Green Giant Veggie tots that are made out of broccoli and cauliflower and they will eat those, so we take it as a win.
  They pretty much consist on a steady entree diet these days of cheese quesadillas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot dogs, chicken cordon bleus, english muffin pizzas, grilled cheese, and grilled chicken tenders from Chick Fil A. They are still boycotting pasta, though admittedly, it's been awhile since we've offered it to them.
  
  They love, love, love muffins ("muh muh", not to be confused with "mama") and will request them just about every morning. We go through quite a few packs of mini muffins each week. I've made several large batches of mini banana and blueberry muffins, too.
  
  
  • They have a new favorite bedtime book- Llama Llama Red Pajama. It's requested by all three of them over and over again ("Mama? Mama? Mama?") until we read it. 
  
  
  
  
  •  All three boys have pretty much mastered walking/crawing up the stairs on their own, and we are actively working on teaching them to go downstairs alone, too. Our constant reminders to "go onto their bellies and slide off" the couch must be sinking in because they all instinctively will turn around and slide down the stairs on the bellies. We still have a long way to go before we will confidently let them go up and down the stairs alone, but they made a lot of progress, especially in the past couple weeks!
  • I think we are getting closer and closer to the big potty training moment, too. Will, especially, seems to be very aware of when he is filling up his diaper. He will often tell us what he's doing when it's obvious he's pooping ("poopoopoo"). And all 3 are seemingly aware of when they are in need of a diaper change. Just tonight, when I asked Cooper if he had poop, he gave me a gigantic grin and squatted down and grunted. Yup, pretty sure he knows what I was talking about.
  • Our pediatrician recommended that we start using the bathroom with the door open and talking about what we're doing so they get a better idea of what it means to go potty. They are certainly intrigued! I had to snap this picture the other day as they were very interested while Daddy used the bathroom- he had quite the audience! :)
    
  • Speaking of understanding us, it is amazing how much they comprehend these days. You can ask them to get you something very specific and they will seek it out for you. Their imagination is starting to take off, too. They like to pretend a lot right now- they will wash their hands in their play sink and take fake drinks out of water bottles. 
  • We took the boys to a gymnastics center last week for their preschool open play. For an hour each week they open the whole gym up for kids under 5 to have play time. The boys really enjoyed running around! It was well worth the $5 per child and proved to be a pretty good workout for Will and me, too. Chasing around 3 toddlers who have free reign to run where ever they want is pretty tiring! 
  • Cooper has recently started saying "Bye!" very clearly. He thinks it's pretty funny. Will does a good job of showing off his jumping skills in this video, too:
  
  
  
  

  • They have been enjoying all their Christmas presents. The tent my parents got them is perfect for playing peek-a-boo with each other, and the slide has yet to get old!