Happy First Birthday

It's been one year. Rich and I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. We are in awe of these little creatures who every day make us laugh, cry and remind us what is important. It is too scary to remember how fragile and precarious all of our lives were one year ago so I'd rather recount what we did to celebrate the first year.

Well, this wasn't so much a celebration but a necessity. We had an 8:00 am appointment with the pedi for their 1 year check-up so that meant for me packing the diaper bag with snacks, toys, blankets the night before and getting everyone up, feed, and changed by 7:30 am. I started getting ready around 5:30 which is what time Beckett is getting up anyway. When you take 3 1-year olds to the doctor for a full exam and shots, plan for 2.5 hours and lots of snacks. Big news is that they all have ear infections, no more formula, no more bottles, and they can have table food. I've been waiting for this day since the day they started formula- one of most devastating days for me. Tomorrow they start whole milk and our doctor suggested that we go cold turkey with the bottles. Meaning tonight was the last night my babies had a bottle before going to bed. I was getting choked up just looking at them.

All those tears for nothing. I realized that I don't have any whole milk for the morning. Only Light Vanilla Soy which I'm sure is not what the pedi had in mind. So I made up 3 more sets of bottles because I'm not sure when I will make it to the store and I already know they are not keen on drinking formula from a sippy cup. So much for that.

I wish I had my camera because when the nurse comes in with 12 syringes piled on a tray, it is pretty impressive. I'm sure the babies were not so impressed with getting 3 shots a piece on their birthday. Now for the weights-

Beckett- 17 lbs, 5 oz
Eloise- 16 lbs, 10 oz
Addy- 17 lbs, 6 oz

Still little but consistently gaining and they are on their own little growth curve.

Now on to the more interesting part of the day...
Our nanny, Maria, threw the babies a party with her daughters Jenny (she's back and Eloise couldn't be happier) and Sabrina and the little girl, Matilda, that Sabrina takes care of. When I walked into the house from work, this was the beautiful scene...






(no picture of Addy, she didn't want her hat or cake)


Thanks so much to Maria, Jenny and Sabrina for bringing so much love and joy to our family. See the outfit that Matilda is wearing? Jenny gave the triplets each one of these traditional outfits from Honduras. They are hand-embroidered and just exquisite!

Then we had another cupcake party an hour later with our neighbors- Clarke, Lisa, Chantal and Danica and a mom expecting triplets, JoSue.




Clarke is their rocker-cool-friend. She makes them CD's with the newest music, gives them musical instruments and cool clothes (remember the baby Chuck Taylors?), and best of all, comes over to play with them and help me out a few days a week. They adore her and I can't think of a better role model for our kids. She is also working on how to rig up a saddle on her Great Dane, Mae, so the babies can have pony rides. That would be so awesome. Thanks Clarke and Lisa for everything, especially Lisa for one year ago yesterday driving me to the hospital. We still laugh that I only took my purse, no overnight bag- why would I need that? I was only 30 weeks and 5 days pregnant so there was no way I was going to need to stay...




This time around, Addy went to town on the cupcake. It was all fun and games until she started to fling it on the ground.



Beckett did a pretty good job with his cupcake as well. Eloise was more interested in keeping clean and feeding me the cupcake. I was only too happy to oblige.


I thought all of the sugar would either put them in a coma or make them totally wild before bed. The later happened. Addy is able to stand by herself now so she was standing playing with her new animal puzzle. She then threw a temper tantrum and threw herself forward and got a bloody lip.


After I took Eloise out of the bath, the other two were having a meltdown probably from all of the sugar, so I put Eloise in her favorite place- standing next to the dump truck. She was so mad when I made her put a diaper on and get dressed.


One year ago our darling babies finally found us. For me, celebrating one year of life, love and happiness was so much more emotional than the birth itself. Probably because I was so sick, drugged up and didn't see the babies for 24 hours. Now I appreciate the importance of that day and when I look at their smiling faces, wouldn't have it any other way.

Pretty Typical

The main activities for almost 1 year olds are eating, sleeping and playing with playing being the number one priority for them. Sleeping is my number one priority for them but since sleeping pictures are pretty boring and they don't do it too often anyway these days, here are some pictures from just one of our typical days with the triplets doing what they do best.

Addy lounging in the toy basket before breakfast with Beckett harassing her.


Beckett trying to crawl in the toy basket with Addy. These two are inseparable, probably because they are the only ones who can crawl.


All of the babies grouped around the same toy and Beckett sitting back to back with one of his sisters (does this all the time).


All of the babies grouped around the same toy- again.


Grouped around the same toy, and now Addy pushed it forward flattening Eloise onto her back. You can see Beckett looking at her and waiting to see if she is going to cry because he would then also.


Addy sitting the basket of books trying to pull down the curtains with Beckett close by.


Eloise happy as a clam, most likely either sorting socks or taking legos one by one out of the dump truck.


Addy completely insulted, probably because of something Beckett did. Best part is that she stop crying instantly if you wrestle with her or give her a remote control with only one battery. Rich figured out this makes it light up but won't do anything else.


All hanging out in a crib together while I was trying to organize their closet. They usually like to "help" me when it involves baskets of clothes, or socks, or diapers or frankly anything in a container that can be emptied but I don't always need their kind of help.

Washington DC- Time to say good-bye

Monday, Memorial Day we headed back home to Dallas after saying goodbye to our family, friends, fabulous hotel room and place where Rich and I met and made our first home. It was bittersweet to leave but we had a almost 3 hour plane ride in front of us.

Getting through security was a little more problematic this time. I don't know why, it just seemed a little less organized, the end of a holiday weekend and people were more in a rush? I don't know but after we got through, we were counting babies, car seats and carry on bags and I saw a crowd out of corner of my eye and 3 guys kind of standing around. In a flash, I jammed all of the babies into to the stroller and took off with them leaving Rich and Isaac with everything else.

I pushed through the crowd (people usually move anyway when they see the stroller) and pushed the stroller right up to the 3 guys standing there and said, "Will you take a picture with my triplets?" Without waiting for the answer I snapped a picture.

IT'S THE JONAS BROTHERS!!!!!! OMG!!! THEY ARE SOOOO CUTE.

It was kind of funny because everyone else was just kind of standing there staring at them and I pushed the stroller right up. They were a little shocked to see the babies but very sweet. I took off right after I snapped the picture because I didn't want to talk to them because I truly don't know their names. All I know is that they have the smoothest, most beautiful skin. Just like a babies bottom. Or like prepubescent boys wearing make-up. I'm just saying...


After our brush with the Bros, we let the babies play for a bit and get out of their car seats because we knew it was going to be a long flight. We just didn't know how long.


Normally the flight is a little under 3 hours. But our time on the plane turned out to be 5 hours. I can't remember exactly what the problem was, something about brakes and weight distribution, but all I know is that I was freaking out because I only had 6 bottles with me. I know that sounds ridiculous but that is 2 bottles per baby and we didn't know how long the delay was going to be. We were contemplating getting off the plane and I asked the flight attendant if I could get off to see if I could get more formula somewhere in the airport. No, I couldn't get off the plane and they don't sell formula. I was desperate and scared for the other passengers.
Anyway, we took off and the babies were unbelievable. Addy only slept for a total of 10 minutes the whole time. She was very focused trying to grab glasses of juice and smiling at anyone who walked by. Beckett slept a good portion of the time and then spent the rest of the time looking over the seat at Addy and I (we were sitting behind him.) Eloise was so funny. She spilled a glass of apple juice on Isaac and he had to seat in a wet seat the whole time. But it didn't stop the two of them from getting comfortable.

Check out the buffet being enjoyed by the lady next to Isaac. He was so good at keeping Eloise away from all of the food until Eloise flung a book and it hit a glass of ice spilling all over the other passenger. She was a good sport but it scared Eloise so much she started to cry. The only time she cried.

That's it. We did it. And we will do it again without hesitation. We figured out that at this age, 5 hours is about the max amount of time to be contained without a total meltdown. Thanks to everyone, especially Isaac. You can be our wingman anytime.

Washington DC- Day 3

Sunday was the day of the wedding and the day of the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle ride around the National Mall. We were out walking with Sarah, Jim and Oliver and saw all the people lined up but didn't think too much of it. We heard the "rolling thunder" long before we saw it. The website estimates that up to 900,000 participate yearly.

It would have great to watch had we not been stuck on the wrong side of the parade.
We had to get to the other side of the motorcycle parade and the streets were closed which is why we put the triplets in the middle of street.

Finally there was a break and Rich and I sprinted across the street leaving Sarah and Jim behind. Whoops. They didn't know how mobile and quick we are with that stroller. For future reference, we can get the babies into the van from the stroller, the stroller in the car, and us buckled in starting the car is 45 seconds. We frequently time it with a stopwatch and try to break our record. We also secretly race people next us with only one baby. We always win.

We had to get back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding which is really a challenge while trying to wrangle, dress and feed the wild trio who at this point had totally taken over the entire hotel room with toys, cribs, blankets and snacks. We had 2 sitters again for the babies for the actual wedding but we had them dressed for pictures. I'm hoping that someone else got a family picture of us because I only got pictures of the trio.


Of course Eloise loves to sit on the velvet couch.


And sit and sit.


The wedding was at a hotel with one of the best views in Washington.
Look at this view during cocktails...(White House)




Finally, a glass of really good wine, great company, and a fantastic view. This was probably the first time I relaxed the whole weekend. The wine helped.


I love when Isaac wears a bow tie. It suits him perfectly. It was even better that one of the babies untied it during pictures.


Me, Isaac and Sarah. This was right before I helped myself to four pieces of cake. It was sooooo good. My record is 9 pieces at one wedding.


Grandma, Grandpa and my dad. I'm not going to say how old my grandparents are but I can tell you, they look darn good for their age. You're no slouch either Papa!


Now the best pictures of all...


They were just glowing, it was breathtaking. Could this be a picture in a magazine or what?

Congrats to Mel and Jared!

Washington DC- Day Two

Our first night in DC was anything but restful. It was maybe 8 in the morning and I was half sleeping on the bed feeding Eloise a bottle and Rich said that I had to come into the living room to see what Beckett did. What a start to the day.

Beckett had the biggest blowout in his pants I had ever seen. It took two of us to clean him up and ended up just putting in the sink for a good soak. We had to throw away his pajamas. There was no way I was going to rinse those out and haul those around for a few days. What a mess.

Our good friends, Alex and Shannon came to visit us with their son Caleb. It was so good to see them. Just like old times except we have three kids and they have one and one on the way. Shannon is 24 weeks pregnant and she looked so beautiful. I'm disappointed I didn't get pictures. This is the only picture I took- Eloise eating a pickle.

It was so sweet to see all of the kids playing together and sad to say good-bye to them. We miss you guys!!!!

Then my sister Sarah, her husband Jim and son Oliver finally got to meet the babies! We walked along the Mall and to the Washington Monument and Sarah got to experience firsthand the chaos that ensues walking with the babies.
We tried to get some pictures of the 3 kids, not the triplets, but Sarah, Isaac and I.


Oliver is a total hoot. When he saw the camera, he had to get in the picture. It is downright scary to look at pictures of Oliver when he was Beckett's age. Do you want to know what Beckett is going to look like at age 3? Blow up the pictures and look at the beautiful little blond boy.


Again, no pictures of babies in front of monuments. I figured we had a few more days so I wasn't sweating it. What's strange is that I normally take tons of pictures but I was really out of sorts. At home we are very scheduled, everything is in it's place and I know what is happening next. This trip was totally different from our regular days which was hard mostly because I wasn't sure how the babies were going to react.
This is pretty typical of most of our time at the hotel. Addy got into and emptied the diaper bag, Beckett is trying to open a packet of crackers and Eloise is eating a bottle on her favorite couch and they all are in various stages of undress.


Did I mention that I was washing bottles in the bathroom sink? The first night we went through 12 bottles in 12 hours.


But Rich and I were able to get away for a couple of hours to the rehearsal dinner. Again, no picture. We left the babies with 2 sitters.

Washington DC- Day One

Luckily the hotel has 3 cribs. The story about the cribs is kind of funny. We had requested 3 cribs in advance but were told there are only 3 cribs in the whole hotel and they can't be reserved, it is a first come first serve. I guess we were the first to check in because we got 3 the cribs and the rest of the weekend, everyone with kids would say to me, "So you're the one with all the cribs!" The hotel ended up having to rent extra cribs for the rest of the guests. Sorry for being the crib hog!

The kids LOVED the hotel. I've mentioned before that the layout of our house is not ideal for kids but this hotel was and they were in heaven. They would crawl from one room to the next, play with the stroller, try to lick the nightlights and found toilet paper for the first time.
I managed to take a picture of our lovely room before it got trashed with toys and cribs.


Our room had this fantastic blue velvet curved couch and the kids loved crawling on it.

I'll just say it now. I couldn't even start thinking about the germs they were exposed to. Just looking at these pictures now freaks me out but I had prepared myself that there was nothing to be done and they were having such a blast I just had to go with it.

The location of the wedding could not be beat. We were 2 blocks from the White House and 2 blocks from the National Mall. The White House was our first stop. You have no idea how hard it was to get this picture. There were so many people, 4-6 people deep, but luckily triplets are apparently as interesting as the White House so people got out of our way and even offered to take our picture. This one woman was very insistent on getting our picture just perfect and was showing us how to pose. I had this vision of the National Lampoon's European Vacation scene where someone runs off with the camera in a similar situation. I told Rich that and he said, "Do you think they could out run me?" Good point.



We walked around the Washington Monument and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Or actually, it was bottle time and I did my best to keep them on schedule. We didn't take any pictures of the babies at the Washington Monument because we were just a few blocks away and I figured we would get some the next day. Big mistake.

For dinner that night we took 2 cabs (remember 3 adults and 3 car seats) to my Uncle Bob's and Aunt Rose's house for dinner and to finally introduce the triplets to my extended family.

Here is my Grandma holding Addy with Aunt JoJo, Uncle Isaac and Grandpa. My Aunt Joanne had met the triplets when she came to help out when they were so little back in September.


Love this picture of Addy and my Grandma, just wish Addy wasn't sucking on her bunny so you can see her face.

Addy sat on my Grandpa's lap and feed him Veggie Stix for about 45 minutes.


Melly (the BRIDE), Aunt Joanne, Grandma and me. Do I look like a giant or what?


Just like the adults hanging out on the couch.


I love this picture. This picture pretty much sums up much of the night because I was such a chatty Katie catching up and talking with people that I hadn't seen in so long, Rich had to wrangle the kids much of night. Thanks hon!


Our plan was to take cabs back to the hotel but I forgot what a nightmare it is to try and get a cab pick up on Friday night in the rain. Thanks Joanne for driving us back. My dad and Bambi were at the hotel waiting for us to say hi to the babies because they hadn't seen them in several months. It was about 10 or 10:30 at this point, much past their bedtime but I was insistent that we had to wake them up, give them a little sponge bath and put them in their pajamas. Talk about screaming. They had been up since 5 am and they were done. I just couldn't put them to bed wearing the same clothes they had all day and on the plane. We finally got them to bed at 11 and Rich and I fell into bed exhausted.

Only to be waken up 5 times by Mr. Beckett and once each by the girls. This started a cycle with Mr. Beckett at night that we still can't break. He only wants to sleep in bed with us now. Won't go to sleep without us and is furious if he wakes up and he is in his own crib. Uggg.

After such a restful night, Day Two started in the most unpleasant way...

We're leaving on a jet plane

We did it, it's over. It took several months of planning, several too real nightmares and one very courageous brother but we did it. We took the triplets on their first plane trip to Washington DC over the weekend for my cousin Melly's wedding. It was worth every second of anxiety and planning to be able to see so many family and friends and be present for such a beautiful ceremony and truly loving couple. Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. Pontz!

Rich and I met in Washington DC and we lived there for several years so it was like bringing our babies to our first home. Except this time our home was a suite at the W filled with cribs rather than our tiny condo with the puffy fruit basket wallpaper in the kitchen and Rich's bike hanging in the bedroom. What memories of a simpler time.

Back to reality. We got the kids up at 5:00 am Friday morning, fed and changed them and put them in the car for our 7:00 am flight. My brother was brave enough to volunteer to come with us so our adult to infant ratio was 1:1. How many 28 year-old brothers would willingly fly with an 11 month-old in their lap? He is the best. We had originally booked seats next to each other all in the same row but once we checked in that plan was foiled. There are only 3 oxygen masks for every 2 seats so only 1 infant can be in each row. We ended up all in aisle seats which meant that each of us would be seated next to potentially a not so thrilled person.

Getting through security with pre-mixed formula, 2 computers, 3 car seats, 3 diapers bags and the longest stroller ever could have been a nightmare but it turned out to be a breeze. I'm sure it didn't look easy and I think there were lots of irritated people behind us, but it went so much smoother than I ever imagined.

We were most concerned about Beckett being fussy but Rich breastfeed him sleep...


Since Isaac and I didn't attempt Rich's method, we had a little harder time with the girls. We would switch off Addy and Eloise when they would get fussy and distract, distract, distract with contents of 3 diapers bags of toys, books and food.

Addy loves to be upside down these days and Uncle Isaac was only too happy to indulge her every whim.


Apple juice was just one of the many distractions which was great ear popping during take off and landing (ear popping)...


With about an hour left Eloise started to lose it. Luckily, we had the best flight attendant, Babs, and she took the little doll walking up and down the aisle. Just for reference, I normally don't hand my children off to total strangers but it wasn't like she could go anywhere. Best decision ever. She brought Eloise back sleeping.


She then took Addy for a walk and brought her back sleeping as well.


Anyone who has flown into National Airport knows how awesome the approach can be. You can see all monuments, the Capital, White House and I can usually pick out the houses where I used to live. Love that city. The kids were unbelievable on the flight and I think we were all in awe of how easy the flight was but still dreading the return.

When most people arrive to their final destination, they can usually jump in a cab. Not us. Look at all of our stuff.


We needed a XL SUV and we only fit in that with some fancy maneuvering.


We were only there for 3 night and 4 days, what could I possibly have packed?
Let's see..
15 bottles
Bottle washing equipment (dish soap, bottle brush)
Dish towels
Sippy cups
Bowls for eating real food
Formula
Baby Food
Diapers
White noise machine
Wipes
Clothes and pajamas for 4 days plus extra for accidents
Baby blankets- the hotel could not guarantee 3 cribs
Toys
Disposable bibs
5 boxes of their favorite rice crackers
and the list goes on and on...

I'll continue with the rest of this adventure tomorrow but I'm still mentally recovering. And still unpacking.