Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!

What an amazing few months!  A lot has happened since my last update, obviously. I will do my best to recap it as precisely as I can.  The girls are growing and changing a little every day.  Sometimes I like to keep them in their jammies all day long, just because when I get them dressed in their big girl clothes they look so old!  These last few months have been the best.  I wish I could freeze time for a bit... but I think I have said that before.  I guess that means I am a very blessed mom, because so far, there has not been a "stage" that I have not loved every second of.  They just keep getting better!!  :)

The girls turned one year old on December 16th.  The weekend prior, we had a nice gathering of very special friends and our moms to celebrate the big event.  The girls were on their best behavior and had their own mini birthday cupcakes (they would have been jealous of the cakes that the Maldonado boys had!!!).  They had fun opening gifts and getting lots of new books and a few new toys.  Nathan bought them three of the Little Tikes Cozy Coupes which they LOVE!  It will be really fun this Spring when they are a little bigger.  It's going to be a bumper car park in our driveway!!

The other big surprise was that I had a client come into the clinic with a sick puppy that he sadly couldn't afford to treat.  Because he wanted the best for this dog, he asked if I would take him and care for him.  How could I say no! It all happened on the girls actual birthday and I thought it was fate.  Turns out he is a great little dog and we love him very much, especially now that peeing in the house is becoming less frequent.  His name is Gibson, aka Gibby, the Gibber, little dude and "that damn dog peed in the house again!"

                                  

The weekend after their birthday, we had a nice birthday/early Christmas gathering with my Mom and Willy's family.  It's always so great to see the girls with their three older cousins.  I have a feeling they are going to have lots of fun with those boys in the years to come!

Christmas this year was with my mom and Sid up on MDI.  Porter joined us as well.  It was a perfect long weekend.  Lots of snow, which allowed for the girls first sledding experience.  Really just one pull down the golf course which is barely even on an incline, but it was fun nonetheless.  The girls had a blast on Christmas morning, opening presents, playing with new toys (especially their new tube), and eating... oh wait, that was me. :)  Thanks to Mom and Sid for hosting this year.

New Year's was about as mellow as it gets.  Our neighbors had a party, but our babysitter fell through and so we split time next door.  I think I was in bed by 9:30p... which was really depressing when my MOTHER called me from a bar in BH and woke me up at 10:30p.  What has my life become?!?!  But you know what?  I don't miss it for a second.  I would much rather go to bed early so I can be chipper and be with my girls bright and early the next day.  Priorities change.  It's a good thing.

We have had such a wonderful year.  I feel so unbelievably lucky that I have three such amazing children.  They are the light of my life and I can't imagine things any different.  It was all meant to be.  I also want to say how lucky I am to have a husband that is as involved and dedicated to our kids as Nathan is.  He is amazing with the girls and has been a huge part in making the last year one of the best of my life.  Thank you, honey.

Now for little updates on the girls...

Maizie...  Miss Moo,weighing in around 22 pounds, is doing great.   She is definitely the most advanced mover at this point. It's not so much that she moves fast, but she is definitely walking!!  Every day she walks a little further. I think she could be a full time walker, but she seems to lack the motivation to get there. She has 6 teeth (4 upper and 2 lower), although the next set of incisors coming in on the bottom and I think I see some molars coming in as well.  She is just starting to dance by moving her body around and some of her favorites are that she blows kisses, high fives, hands up, and claps her hands.  She is working on identifying her nose, ears, etc, but still gets them a little confused.  She is a great eater, although her favorite way to tell us she is done is the windshield wiper move.  Not my favorite, but Wakefield and Gibson are big fans.  We actually devised a bumper for the feeding table that prevents food from being thrown onto the floor. Maizie is definitely the joker of the family and the loudest (sound familiar?).

Maizie's other big news is that a month ago, she had the sebaceous nevus (like a white mole of sorts) on her head removed. It was a scary day for me, but Maizie did absolutely amazing. She had a 3 inch incision on her head when it was done!  She was so brave. Very few tears and no complications.  She is now all healed up and shouldn't have any further issues with it.

Charlie...  Charlie is still our little peanut, weighing in about 18 pounds. Charlie is taking her time with the walking process. She is a super fast at crawling and is starting to think about standing on her own.  She can buzz around on her walker all day long, but isn't ready to do it on her own.  I think part of the problem is when she gets on her feet, she just wants to move and she isn't patient enough to learn to balance first.  So, crawling it is for now! I think she will catch on once she sees her sisters cruising around. ***Ok since it is taking me so long to get this darn update posted... Charlie is now standing on her own and is trying to take steps. She is really excited about it! She may have taken the longest to get started, but her learning curve is progressing quickly!  Charlie has six teeth as well, although two of them are just barely showing.

Charlie is going through a really mellow phase. She rarely cries unless there is a good reason. While the other two will cry sometimes when they wake up to get me up there asap, Charlie just chills in her crib playing with her stuffed animals and flipping through books.  I have to consciously be sure that I am holding her and rocking her as much as the other two because she doesn't demand it like they do.  Thank you, Charlie! :)

Charlie loves to clap her hands and has a new talent of clapping her feet during diaper changes. She also blows kisses, waves goodbye, high fives and dances. She is the best dancer in the group. Charlie needs no encouragement. When she hears music, she starts gyrating her whole body. It's pretty funny.  One of Charlie's new things is using her index finger to explore. Lots of pointing, squishing things with her finger, stuffing said finger up her nose, in my eyes, in her ears and anywhere else it will fit.  Fun!!

Reese... And then there is Miss Reesie.  Reese is still our biggest bear.  She is weighing in around 23 pounds as of a few weeks ago.  Reese is in the middle of the walking learning process. She stands up on her own with confidence, but is still hesitant to take steps. She has taken a few steps here and there, but really doesn't seem to have the motivation to learn faster. I wouldn't be surprised if Charlie's motivation made it so she was the first to really be WALKING as a primary mode of transportation. The other two are just not that into it. Buy, hey, that's fine with me. I'm in no rush to be running in three different directions!

Reese is still our best eater, go figure. She will pretty much eat anything.  She has all the talents of the other girls with clapping, high fiving, blowing kisses, waving goodbye, etc.  She is by far the best peek-a-boo player we have. She will put anything and everything on her head.  Reese has taken to emptying her crib of all stuffed animals, blankets, books, etc. It all seems great to her...until she is sad that she doesn't have anything to play with.  Reesie is also exploring her voice more than the others.  She loves to make lots of noise just to hear herself.  It's cute...most of the time. :)

So, I guess that's about it for now.  It's really hard to write these because I wait so long between updates that there is too much to cover!  I am actually a little embarrassed at how poorly this post looks. Oh well, that's just the way it is. We are really looking forward to Spring.  We have been housebound for too long! Time to get outside.  Lots of love!

Halloween 2010!

So, it is rare that we dress the girls alike, or even in the same theme... but we just couldn't resist for Halloween.  Nathan came up with the theme for this year and it seemed to fit the girls perfectly.

In a small town, far...far...away...

Cast of Characters:

Nellie... Boba Fett

Nathan... Darth Maul

Wakefield... Darth Vader

Charlie... Princess Leah

Maizie... Chewbacca

Reese... Yoda

We had a great evening.  We visited with some new friends at the end of the street. They have a daughter Zoey who is a month older than the girls.  We met for a pre-trick or treat adult beverage, then got the girls all dressed up and hit the neighbors up for candy in exchange for a peek at the triplets! haha.  We only went up our street, but everyone was so excited to see them.  

 Mazie was the perfect Chewy because she has been making the funniest noises lately.  

Charlie as the Princess... it just fits.

 Reese's serious side made Yoda the obvious choice

 Happy Girls

Post trick-or-treating with their new pal Zoey

We hope you all had as much fun as we did!

How time flies...

Believe it or not, 10 months has come and gone!  I know it's been a while since I have updated, but it's amazing how much the girls have changed in that short amount of time.  Every single day, these wonderful babies get more and more amazing.  I don't think my heart could get any more full of love for my daughters. It is an amazing feeling.  My favorite part is that all three of them are total snugglers. They love to be hugged and kissed and they have giggles that could (and do) make anybody smile.  Not only are they changing physically, but they are also really coming into their own personalities and starting to interact with each other and with us.

Some general comments about all the girls... They are all crawling around, sitting up, pulling themselves up on everything and eating tons of new and exciting foods.  Although we were good about slow introduction to new foods when they first started eating, at this point we are pretty much throwing everything at them.  They will eat whatever we are eating and more.  It's pretty fun to make food for them.  We try to eat together as a family once in a while at the kitchen table, but it's hard to get us to eat that early.  I am pretty happy that we have been able to make all their own food for them.  I will have to admit, however, that it would be a lot harder if I didn't have the best nanny in the world. Jenn loves to cook and has made some really fun stuff out of this cookbook that we got.  The girls have enjoyed broccoli risotto, squash and quinoa, and cauliflower and tomato gratin, just to name a few.  So far they are great eaters, although Charlie seems to have a texture issue with some foods.

Sleeping is still at 11-12 hours a night and 3-4 hours of naps during the day.  We have occasional wake-ups in the middle of the night, and don't think I don't scoop up whoever needs comforting and bring her right into bed.  I have made sure that I don't do it too often because I don't want it to become a habit, but man, there is nothing better than snuggling with a little munchkin under the covers. They are all so snuggly and I am so grateful for that.  Each and every day I see new changes in them and although I know I will miss these days, I can't wait to see who they will become.  Anyway... below are a few pics and some individual info about the girls.

Charlie...

 

 

 

 




Charlie is still our little peanut.  She is weighing in at 16lb 7oz and is 28 inches long (only 1/2 inch behind her sisters).  She is at 50% for height and only about 20% for weight. She is definitely our pickiest eater, which I guess goes along with her slim figure. I will say, however, that I have found that it's not that she doesn't want the food, she just wants to feed it to herself.  Miss Independent, for sure.  Charlie is definitely the chattiest of the bunch.  We can hear her chatting to herself and others from all rooms in the house.  She surely has some things to say and some day, I'm sure we are going to hear all about it.  She is also our fastest mover.  Her form is more like the army crawl but she can go places!! It seems as though her spitting is finally slowing down, which is so nice for us and for her.  She is surely our explorer and LOVES escaping to the kitchen floor.

Although she was the last to be able to do so, Charlie can now sit up on her own.  It is so cute to walk in their room after they have been sleeping and find Charlie sitting up in her bed, playing with her bunny, talking to whoever will listen.  In this respect, Charlie is very independent, however, she is also a very sensitive little girl.  She is getting better, but for the longest time, any falls, bumps, stolen toys, etc would cause her to get very upset and she wanted to be picked up.  She is definitely tougher now, thank goodness because this crawling thing exposes her to many more bumps and bruises.  Charlie doesn't have any teeth yet but I am not in any rush for that to happen with her.

Reese...

           

Reese is our thinker.  She has the best laugh of the group, but you definitely have to get it out of her. Not that it is that hard, but she often has a serious look on her face.  She is probably the quietest of the three, except for one thing... she LOVES to scream!! Top of her lungs screams!  It's not that she is mad or upset or any feeling in particular, she is just exploring her voice.  Thank goodness the other ladies haven't caught on!  Reese and Maizie both began crawling around the same time.  Reese is the best at actually coming over to you when you ask her to.  I love sitting in the play room and asking her to come to me and she excitedly does so.  So fun!!  Lastly, Reese is our best eater. I don't think she has turned away one thing that we have given her.  That's why she is the biggest girl, weighing in at 21 lb 6oz and 28 1/2 inches long. She is 50-75% for height and 75-90% for weight. She also has lots of teeth to help her out.  She has two bottom teeth and about 4-6 top teeth all coming in at different stages.  She is being so brave... thank goodness.

Reese is the first baby that got to have extended time alone with mom. Last month I had to fly to Philly for my Moonie's funeral and I had the joy of taking Reese along with me. It was so amazing to have only one baby!!  No offense to you moms of singletons, but holy moly it was so easy!! haha.  We had an amazing weekend of bonding and I look forward to having similar weekends with my other two cuties soon.  

Maizie...

 

 

 

 

 

Maizie is definitely the class clown.  She almost always has a smile on her face, or some funny looking face as seen above.  She is also pretty vocal these days with the mamamamama and dadadadada. It will be nice when she knows what those syllables mean. :)  She also makes lots of interesting noises, which are the reason for her Halloween costume.  Can't fill you in on that now, it's a surprise! Maizie is probably the most advanced at moving around.  She was the first to stand up with help from the furniture.  I bet she will be walking in the next few months.  Maizie is also a very good eater. She has her two bottom teeth and a bunch of upper incisors coming in. She is about one week behind Reese in terms of teeth breaking through.  She is weighing in at 21 lb 6oz and is 28 1/2" in length. She is about 50-75% for both height and weight.

Maizie has been a bit of a challenge lately in terms of night time sleeping.  She is waking up at different times of the night crying. The paci doesn't help, just time... and often coming to bed with us.  After being scolded by our pediatrician today, I know I need to make her stay in her crib, it's just hard.  Luckily, Charlie and Reese sleep right through the wake-ups.  Hopefully this is just a phase that she will get through. We have been very lucky to have good sleepers and a few bumps in the road are to be expected.

So, that's the update. Man, life is just so busy!! I started this post a month ago and it took me that long to get it all out.  I had to change a bunch of stuff I had written last month because so much had changed.  I will leave you with one of my favorite photos taken this Summer.  It's the girls and their cousin Honor (Fran's daughter).  We had such fun with her in Maine and Philly.  

Until next time...