Is the year almost over?

Is the year almost over? That's what I thought as I tried to think of a title for this post. I can't believe how quickly it's flown by. Last year at this time I wasn't even sure I'd actually make it through the pregnancy. Now here we are with three wonderful little beings. Who are holding their own bottles now for the most part.
(Brody, Colin, Aiden)

We're still trying to work on where we're going to be feeding them once we transition out of the bouncy chairs, but they're doing a great job with their bottle holding. Yesterday I even watched Brody take his bottle in one hand, arm outstretched, and open his palm so the bottle looked like it was going to fall off his finger tips and then just at the last moment he pulled it back and then stuck the bottle back in his mouth.

Now for the fun Christmas pictures-
I had to choose between a picture with all three boys who don't look super enthusiastic or one with me in it where the boys true sparkly personalities come out but where I haven't yet showered for the day and am still in my pjs. I chose the one with me in it. But don't the boys look like they're having fun on their first Christmas?
(Colin,Aiden,Brody)


In case you want to see the one with just them-
(Colin,Aiden,Brody)


Other news-

Aiden now has two teeth. Brody still has two teeth. I think Colin's second tooth is about to break the surface. Aiden's left bottom tooth came in first, then his right bottom tooth. Brody's were the opposite order (although his came in almost simultaneously). Colin's right bottom tooth came in first.

Aiden is crawling like crazy. He will literally crawl over his brothers if he sees something he would like to have. And starting to climb. By pulling himself up on me, he got into a kneeling position. Holy cow this moves fast! Brody crawls when he feels like it. Or he'll sit for a while. He is happy either way. If we put Colin in a sitting position, he'll stay that way for a while. It seems that the only way to get him to put himself on his belly is for me to put my arms just out of his reach. Then he'll scoot over to me. He can scoot for sure, but he just prefers for everything to be right in front of him.

For those of you who've made it to the end of this post, here's a picture of what I wake up to almost every morning and see while I'm pumping.

It's my blogaversary!!!

Today marks 1 year of blogging. I just realized it, so I don't have anything cool to roll out. Hope all is well out there in blogland and beyond.

What have we been up to?

This week was all about being on the move.

I took this picture this morning and I think it says it all. Brody, Aiden, Colin (front to back). Birdie and Scooter sitting nicely on their doggie beds.



Here's a close-up of Brody and Aiden (Aiden's in red):



And one of Colin:


Yes, they are all 'crawling'. It's more of the army-style crawl, but there is no stopping them now. Yesterday and today were the first days we let them roam freely in the house. Colin licked the floor and Brody made a bee-line for the doggie bowls and promply put his hand in the water and splashed it and got his arm soaked.

Earlier this week, Aiden decided that he'd had enough of being in the exersaucer and that he'd rather be under the exersaucer. Unfortunatley, mommy didn't have her camera handy until Brody did it:


Not to be outphotographed, Aiden made sure he got under the exersaucer and got a picture taken:


Oh-and Aiden decided to climb on top of some toys earlier this afternoon. Have you heard about the thrill-seeking gene? Well I think Aiden's is turned on. He truly has no fear.



And this is what it looked like outside this afternoon:

Santa Photo, helmets

Well, we (I?) decided it would be a fun adventure to get a Santa photo done this year. I was shopping with U's mom last Sunday and I saw the kids lined up to get their picture taken with Santa. It got me thinking...oh wouldn't it be cute to have a photo with the boys and Santa? So I went up and chatted with the nice person in charge of the queue. I wanted to know if Santa thought he could handle holding 8-month old triplets. Well, she walked over and asked him and he told her he thought he could manage. So yesterday (armed with two grandmas and husband), we put nice clothes (matching, holiday style) on the boys and packed them into the car and drove (two cars since we all didn't fit in our 5-passenger vehicle) and headed off to the mall. We were really worried that there would be a huge line and that the boys would all be in major meltdown mode by the time we got up to Santa. Luckily, when we arrived there were only two people ahead of us. We put the boys on Santa's lap and only Aiden cried. And it was more of a I'm-separated-from-mommy cry than a I'm-scared-of-Santa cry. So, I went up and kissed on him and calmed him down and we were able to get a photo of all three boys not crying. And we even got some smiling.



Oh-and the boys are all now wearing helmets. The are to help correct their positional plagiocephaly. We got them last Tuesday. The orthapedist believes they will be wearing them for the next 2-6 months, depending on how they do.

Grandma (Babaanne)'s Visit

U's mom came for a visit. She has been enjoying spending time with the boys. My mom also came for a few days so that she could visit with U's mom and, of course, see the boys as well. It has been incredible to have not just one but two grandmas in the house. The boys have been treated like kings! And mommy and daddy (aka M & U) have been able to squeeze in a few more winks in the mean time. We live really far away from our parents and it is so nice to have them here. All you mommies (and daddies) whose parents live nearby--when they come over, give them a hug and let them know how lucky you are that they live close to you.

Here's a picture of Babaanne with the boys (A,B,C L to R):

Aiden has a tooth

This morning, we found out that Aiden has a tooth! It is his bottom left side tooth. Actually, he really wouldn't let me poke around in there for too long, so I am not even 100% sure it's his bottom left. But I think it is. Here are my attempts at the photos:

Attempt #1:


Attempt #2:


Attempt #3:


At this point, I gave up. Aiden is very active. And, you can see in the third picture that he's actually starting to cry :(!!!

In related news, as of today, Brody has 2 teeth. Bottom front. Two weeks ago, no teeth. Now we've got a collective of five. Whew!

8 months!!!

8 Months Old!! Do I need to say more? Probably not, but here goes. I really can't believe how quickly the time has passed. This past month, the boys have started sitting independently for long periods of time. Today both Aiden and Colin sat for multiple minutes without any help from us at all! They all have teeth. They are all very close to crawling.

Here is a picture of them after bath tonight (Aiden, Brody, Colin):



Here are the boys playing in their bouncy chairs after having their bottle this morning. As you can see, they are almost too big for these chairs. Aiden is reaching over trying to grab Colin's toys. Colin doesn't seem to mind. Brody is looking right at the camera. They are so sweet.

Aiden

Just because he's cute too, here's a picture of Aiden.

Holding Bottles!

I only snapped a picture of Colin, but all boys have progressed toward holding their bottles. It is so exciting and (sniff) sad. They are starting to transition into the next phase.

And then there were two

Brody's first tooth broke the surface!

Not dissuaded by my fruitless efforts to capture Colin's first tooth, I made my best effort to capture the event on film.

Attempt #1


Attempt #2



Attempt #3


You can't really see it properly, but Brody's first tooth is his front left tooth.

Since I was taking photos anyway, here's one of Colin's tooth as it looks today:

Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday. Uncle S came and stayed with us for a few days. He took care of our first children (the doggies). Scooter and Birdie LOVE when S comes since he takes them to the doggie park, the lake, around the neighborhood, to play in the back yard. They are so tired when he leaves. S, of course, loves his little nephews too. They really liked laughing at him and watching him.

We gave the boys sweet potatoes in the morning--
Colin


Aiden


Brody


And later we enjoyed our own feast--

Big News

Colin got his first tooth (bottom right)!!! It has actually just broken the surface this morning (well over night anyway), so I don't think you can really see it. I can however definitely feel the sharp little booger.

Here's what happens when I tried to take photos this morning:

Attempt #1


Attempt #2


Success (well sort of--the picture is too blurry and you can't really see the tooth. But I know it's there!)