We survived!

One year,  I can hardly believe it. I honestly can't believe we have accomplished as many things in the first year of having 5 kids as we did. I remember thinking, oh we will just get a double stroller and I will carry the third...I mean we probably won't get out of the house that much.  Boy clothes, oh we don't need many nice matching things, we will just be in the house a lot! WRONG... we haven't slowed down a bit since we brought them home on Christmas Eve! I never knew how great life could be until this year. I love staying busy, it truly is what life is all about, making the most of everyday.

Although we said "We survived the first year of triplets", I feel we might need to have a survival party every year.  For the past several month we have contained the babies into either gates or in our playroom. Unfortunately, after several months of them only seeing the same four walls day after day, they have been wanting out and wanting to explore. For me I know they are super safe in the gates and in the playroom, but I know they are getting bigger and need more entertainment so I spent all day yesterday baby proofing our kitchen and living room. Christmas came early for those three..... they spent the whole day crawling, walking, pushing and babbling between one room to the next. Due to the extra excersise they took 2 and 3 hour naps!! Liam took two steps towards the couch today and they all have taken their "first steps".... they are all getting super close and it gives me a little anxiety, like I'm loosing a little more control over them!!

My mom and I took them to their one year check ups this week..... let's just say we will be taking a third helper from here on out! Until now they all would stay happy and content either in our arms or in the carseats. This was not the case this week. A well check visit for triplets takes an hour and a half! Dr Lablancs office does a great job of sending two nurses to help with weights and measurements and makes the visit go as quickly as possible, but it was not fast enough for these three or should I say this momma and grandma.! Although, they enjoyed crawling all over a new area. Liam enjoyed getting in the bottom of the stroller bag and rocking. I left the visit with three tired babies that ALL had ear infections, but otherwise we had three VERY healthy one year olds.  Our little "runt" Annalee who weighed 4.3 lbs at birth weighed in beating her brothers at 19.6lbs!! It took her a whole year to pass them up, but she finally did it!

I am thankful I have kept up with this blog for a whole year, I look forward to getting it printed and turned into Baby Books for the triplets, this year has all been a fast paced blur and I will enjoy looking back on it in a few years....you know once life slows down a bit and the kids are at "easy ages"... wink wink!

11 months!"

I've tried to keep a monthly blog to save as the babies "First Year" book. I have done a pretty good job only missing a month or two! It's so cliche to say "time passes by so quickly", but as a busy mom it really has. I vividly remember last year at this time being very, very uncomfortable and counting down the weeks until I could hold those triplets in my arms. Last year, I was being pushed in a wheelchair to go trick- or-treating with the girls and this year I was counting down the days until we could all go walking as family as the seven dwarfs! I had these costumes planned out for months, I slowly began collecting the colored shirts, made the belts and hats and without too much of a hassle the outfits came together!

"Happy"

"Sleepy"

Not-so "Bashful"

"Dopey"

"Sneezy"

"Sleepy"

"Doc"

Now that Halloween is behind us, the next big occasion is the triplets birthday!!! With the craziness of "fall/christmas pictures" starting, I am trying to throw in a few birthday "crafting hours" throughout the next few weeks so I'm not overwhelmed right before the party! This party is going to be a big celebration for the whole family! We not only want to celebrate the healthy births of all three babies, but celebrate all the handwork that all of our friends and family have put in to making this year run so smoothly! Almost on a daily basis someone says, "how do you do it" or " I could never do that".  I have two answers, " I have ALOT of help, it certainly take a village" and " You can do ANYTHING that God put in your hands". You never realize the strengths of yourself until you are challenged. I have certainly seen this played out this year. I have been physically and emotionally stretched to my limits this year and I have turned those tough times into inspiration to push me to do things I didn't know were possible.
This past May I bought a triple jogging stroller. I have always loved exercising and working out, so by having this triple stroller it gave me the freedom to do one of things I love most, running. Over the past 6 months I have used running as my outlet, my free time , my quiet time to think and reflect. I come back from a good run, happy and refreshed ready to take on the rest of my day! Somedays I run with the babies and somedays they stay with Daddy.  One of my life goals was to run a half- marathon, but I never really had the drive to put my body through it. After the year I have had, with physically carrying three babies, I would always refer to my pregnancy as like running a marathon. So after seeing how our bodies can physically and emotionally conquer anything, I put my mind to it to start training for a real "marathon" - I'm starting small and doing the half! So January 26th will be my first and I am so thankful to have my kids as my inspiration to help me reach a personal goal!

Well, it is certainly a good thing that I am getting myself back into shape because it won't be long before we have 5 kids running circles around us! I love how the first year is a pretty slow progression of learning new skills, it has given us a few days in between to keep on "baby proofing" our house. The three are pretty much kept in "The Dungeon" also known as our playroom!! Between the dungeon, highchairs and now an outdoor gated play area these are the "safe" areas of our home. All three are standing on their own, but are still a little timid. My guess is Elijah will be our first walker, he's got mad skills behind the walker. We are branching out and feeding them finger foods, now that all of them have four teeth and are pretty good at using them. I will leave you with some photos from this month! I can't wait to share our birthday "theme" and party pictures next month!