New Year

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to post more on our blog. It has become quite ridiculous that we only post once every few months and then are scrambling to figure out what to post when so much has happened! So this year I want to focus on capturing more of the day to day so I don't forget all the little cuteness that goes on in the house on a daily basis! Since I still don't have all that much "free" time, we'll see how this goes, but I'm at least wanting to start out with high hopes for the year. :)

January has been fairly quiet compared to the usual chaos of December. We've started back into some of our normal routines. Every week we actually go to a "Terrific Twos" class at our local library. (On a side note, our library is fantastic! It is huge and full of resources for kids which is a life saver during a long winter!!) Last year the kids attended the "Wonderful Ones" class and absolutely loved it. So now they've "graduated" to the twos class. It is simply a couple of stories and songs, but I really love their new teacher. I swear she was a pre-school teacher before. She has a theme every week and engages with all the kids so well. It is definitely one of the highlights of our week.

With the colder weather, I'm also starting to plot trips with all 3. Yesterday, I actually took all 3 out grocery shopping by myself. One of my favorite grocery stores upgraded their carts so I am now able to fit all 3 in one cart! It was truly liberating to be able to take my kids out on my own and just have some time with them. I found that bringing snacks along was a strategy I'll have to keep though. It definitely helped to keep them occupied. So another little milestone met, wow my "babies" are getting big!

One of the most challenging things lately is actually trying to cook. My little helpers love to push the kitchen chairs up to the counter and play with anything they can get their hands on. I always have aspirations of actually letting them help, but in no time, there is pushing and shoving, light switches flickering and food on the floor at which time "helping" is over. I've had to come up with creative ways to keep them out of the way which has included letting them play with dry pasta on the floor or emptying the entire contents of my pantry. It literally often looks like a bomb hit the kitchen, but is essential to me actually getting dinner on the table!

Another first around here is that we have all started eating dinner at the table together. While this comes quickly for many parents once their kids start eating solids, we have always put it off since feeding 3 can be quite a production. But since last week, I've been lowering their high chairs and pulling them up to the table so they can eat with mommy and daddy. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's really been wonderful! It is so refreshing to all sit down together as a family and eat dinner. I was beaming through the first meal together and kept asking Rich, "Isn't this crazy? We're all eating together!" I love these little moments. :)

Well, those are my random thoughts at the beginning of 2012. I hope to keep everyone better informed about life with 3 two year olds! Until next time...which should be soon.

And of course I can't not include a few cute pics. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday!!

TWO YEARS OLD! How the time flies! It's hard to believe that these once tiny 4 pound babies are now thriving two year olds. We feel so blessed and are really enjoying this new stage. They are all talking so much more and singing songs, and have all kinds of new opinions to share with us. :) We had a little party last weekend with family and friends and they really enjoyed singing the birthday song and blowing out their candles. They also really started to understand the fun of opening presents and getting all kinds of new toys. (By Christmas day, they were old pro's at unwrapping!) It was an Elmo themed party as he is their new obsession, so my talented mother-in-law made an unbelievable Elmo birthday cake. What a labor of love! They also had Elmo birthday balloons which quickly became one of their favorite things. It was a sad day when those balloons deflated!


Opening up their Birthday Gifts


The incredible Elmo Cake their Mimi made for them


Enjoying the Elmo Cake. They kept asking for more, and more, and more...



Everyone is doing well otherwise. We continue to seek treatment for Braden's seizures. He had two more mild seizures in November, but they were very quick and he came out of them without needing any medication. We meeting with a new specialist to help us continue to investigate the cause of these, as well as researching treatment through chiropractic care. All in all, Braden continues to grow and thrive so we are counting our blessings that these seizures have not set him back at all. He is talking a lot now, loves dancing to his music and takes great joy in eating whenever he can! He is becoming quite a little boy. He loves playing with his cars and throwing a ball around. We definitely see him as our athlete.

Daniel is becoming our little musician. He loves to sing and play the drums or play daddy's guitar. He is our free spirited child and is often in his own little world when playing with a toy or doing a puzzle. He is so inquisitive and loves to watch how things work. It's so fun to see the wheels in his head turning!

Kayla continues to be mommy's little helper. She wants to take care of everybody and often tries to comb the boys' hair or get them dressed, which as you can guess doesn't go over well. ;) She is a big talker now and is often our little drama queen. But she is a very observant and smart little girl. We're always amazed at how quickly she picks up on things.

This year seems to have flown by! While we are sad that we can't exactly get away with calling them "babies" anymore, we are excited about all the fun things that next year will bring.


Christmas morning... Waiting to open gifts


Trying on Grandpa's Santa Hat


We got a special visit from Santa. Kayla was fine, Daniel was a little unsure, and Braden wanted nothing to do with him.



We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Autumn Days

This fall has been a lot of firsts for us, and one to become a quick favorite was trick or treating. The kids were so excited about getting dressed up. Braden was a frog, Daniel was Tigger and Kayla was a Ladybug. They kept pointing to each other's costumes and saying "frog, tiger, lay-bug". While they didn't understand the whole concept of trick or treating or even what candy is, they really got the hang of it quickly and loved walking up to each house and ringing the doorbell. I think their favorite part was once we got home, they poured all of their candy out and then picked it up and put it back in their buckets. They did this over and over again until Daniel realized that if he chewed on the wrappers enough, there might be a nice chocolate suprise inside! That was the end of playing with the candy.


The whole family out Trick-or-Treating.

My cousins came to visit a few weeks ago and we took advantage of a perfect warm fall day to go to the pumpkin patch. It was SO much fun since this pumpkin patch came equipped with a tractor ride and an exotic petting zoo! They really enjoyed seeing all the different animals and looking at the pumpkins. It is great to see them enjoying these kinds of things for the first time. And we love the fact that it is so much easier to get out with them now.


Looking for the perfect pumpkin


All in one Big Rocking Chair


A fun tractor ride out to the Pumpkin Patch


Braden loved the little pigs


A race to the pumpkins



At almost 2, here are some of the kids' favorite things:


Kayla

Reading books Pretending with her kitchen toys Wearing dresses Helping mommy with laundry Her pacifier - she is the only one left using it but only for naps and night time Sleeping!

Braden

Repeating everything we say :) Playing ball Pretending with Little People Talking on his cell phone Eating Listening to music

Daniel

Watching Elmo Singing (current favorite song is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) Playing Ring around the Rosy Climbing on everything he possibly can Building with his mega blocks His bear - he MUST have it for sleeping!

And finally, all three sound asleep after a long day

Summer Fun

Summertime means lots of fun outside and we've all been enjoying the fresh air. The babies know exactly what it means when I say, "time to get your shoes on" and they run to the closet and anxiously await their sandals. Braden has even learned to go to the door and side "ou-side, ou-side?". Too cute. Besides the recent heat wave, we have been able to go out and do some fun things like using our new little swimming pool and taking a big trip to the zoo. (see pics below)

At 19 months old now, they really keep me running all day. My parents come over almost every day for a couple of hours to help out, which really gives me some sanity! They play hard now and love to run, run, run. I find myself wanting to keep them busy so we go to storytime at the library once a week and have playdates with friends to help wear them out.

Little personalities are definitely showing themselves now. People ask me all the time if they seem different, and I always say definitely! They are three very different people and it's so fun getting to see them develop.

Kayla is my girly girl. She is very feminine but yet holds her own with two brothers. She is the smallest of the bunch but I've seen her pin her brothers with little effort! She loves to read and will bring you book after book after book until finally you have to cut her off. She will definitely be my little book worm. She is also mommy's helper. She loves to help me do laundry and loves to clean up too. Kayla is also our best eater when it comes to eating a variety of foods. She'll try anything and there isn't much she doesn't like. She can really eat too and will literally stuff her face! In fact I have to monitor how much I give her at a time because she will try to put everything in her mouth at once. So funny coming from the peanut of the group! We love our little Kayla girl, and she already has daddy wrapped around her little finger. :)

Braden is definitely the dominant personality of the three. He tends to be the leader and if he wants to do something, the other two like to follow along. But he also really cares about his siblings and if one is crying, he has been known to go up and give them a hug or rub their back. So sweet! He is also the biggest talker. He is saying all sorts of words now and communicates really well with us. He loves to try to mimick us as well and imitating sneezes has become one of his favorite things. Braden is very observant too. He took up baby sign language really quickly and remembers things we would never expect him to. Braden is also very social. In fact in our storytime group at the library, he doesn't hesitate to go right up to other kids and hand them toys or try to play with them. He also loves girls. He's been known to plop in the lap of any female who walks through our door! Sweet Braden boy, we love watching him grow.

Daniel is our shy guy. He definitely is more hesitant in new situations, but once he's comfortable, look out! He loves to laugh and his laugh is really contagious. Nothing cracks him up more than his brother and he admires Braden so much already. He also seems to be our most independent child. He can sit on his own and play for a long time without needing any attention. He studies everything he does and loves to figure out how things work. Daniel is also a cuddle bug and every so often will need to find mom and dad and just get some love. He is our little energizer bunny too. The boy will just run and run and run until you literally have to stop him. He has the best smile too and he knows just when to turn it on just to melt your heart and make you forget whatever you were mad at him for. We are so proud of our precious Daniel and the little person he is becoming.

Obviously with three very busy bodies, our blog posts have been scattered to say the least so please forgive us. I guess things won't be slowing down anytime soon though so this will probably be a norm for us. But we hope this at least helps you stay in touch a little and we'll do our best to keep the pics coming. Lots of love from all of us until next time!

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Zoo:

All set and ready for the day


Grandparents were on hand to help out


The Cousins having fun together


The babies loved being with their Aunts & Uncles too


Mimi & Braden taking a walk together


Braden having fun with Aunt Heather


Wiped out at the end of the day


And just a few more Swimming Pictures: