I don't have a whole lot of new stuff to share on this post, but I have a lot more cute pictures from the girls birthday photo shoot that I wanted to share. Otherwise, we are all doing good! Ava has started walking when she feels like it and has taken up to 12 wobbly steps that I have counted. Mya is walking on her knees, but that is as far up as she has gotten. Lia is getting faster all the time with her crawling. They are getting more vocal all the time...they babble and yell at each other constantly. They are still eating good, sleeping good, and following a two nap a day schedule. We have cut down to two bottles a day and are running to the end of our formula supply so when that is gone, we will be done with the formula. In general, they are just happy, fairly well behaved girls!
Simone and Noa are doing great as well. Simone is doing well in school and brings home mostly As with a few Bs every term. Noa is doing good also. He has his rough "behavior" days at school, but always follows it up with several weeks of great behavior before he has another bad day. He starts soccer practice this week, so hopefully that will help use up a little of his pent up energy.
Well, here are the pictures. Hopefully I will manage to get some walking videos to post soon as well!
Ava:
Lia:
Mya:
One last thing, I got a new camera (yay!) and have been working on my photography skills so here are just a few more pictures :)
We did it! We have survived the first year! I don't think that there has been a single year in my life that was as much of a blur as this one has been. Thank goodness for the thousands of pictures that I took, because I don't think I would remember much of anything without them. At my age, I can only pray that the next ten years with triplets don't go as fast as this one did...I am already approaching 40 much faster than I would like.
I just can't begin to imagine how we would have made it to this point without the support of so many people. This is where I begin my acceptance speech for the "surviving triplets" academy award :) Above all else, we thank our families for everything they have done for us...for being here day after day and night after night, for the diapers, wipes, clothes, gifts, and meals. Also, for helping to get Simone and Noa where they need to be when we couldn't do it. I don't know how we would do it without all of you. We would also like to thank our friends and coworkers...for baby showers, gifts, and the understanding of my coworkers after a rough night at home!
Thanks to Aunt Dana's awesome birthday gift, we had some adorable first year birthday pictures taken. It was much more challenging to photograph 3 mobile and somewhat sick/cranky babies than it was to photograph 3 sleeping, premature 5 week olds. Nonetheless, the photographer did a great job. Here are the preview pictures that she sent with more to come!
Mya, Lia & Ava in their cute Valentine's Day outfits
The girls in birth order with their birthday cakes...poor Ava was having a rough day!
Mya, Lia, Ava
Lia
Mya
Ava
We had a pizza party on their birthday. These spoiled girls have more toys than they know what to do with now and enough clothes to get us through the spring/summer. We used gift certificates they received to further stock up on diapers and wipes. The girls also got an awesome Step 2 Choo Choo Wagon from grandma which I know we will get a lot of use out of. We took it to Wal-Mart last weekend to go shopping and we were definitely the center of attention. I didn't think we would ever get out of there!
Birthday cakes....made by mom's friend Kathy who also made our wedding cake almost 13 years ago!
Ava, Lia & Mya with their personalized smash cakes
Ava really dug into hers!
Lia
Mya
Yum!
Lia - their new sun hats were a big hit.
Mya
Ava
All cleaned up after the cake smash
Playing in the new choo choo wagon
On February 6th, we had the girls' 1st year checkup. Other than the non-stop colds and runny noses we have had this winter, we have 3 perfectly healthy girls. Here are where we are on heights and weights compared to one year ago:
At Birth:
Ava - 3 lbs 4 oz. - 15.5 inches
Lia - 4 lbs 14 oz. - 18 inches
Mya - 4 lbs 8 oz. - 16.5 inches
1st Birthday:
Ava - 20 lbs. 12 oz. - 28.25 inches
Lia - 25 lbs. - 30.5 inches
Mya -22 lbs. 4 oz. - 30.5 inches
Of course, I couldn't resist making another video to commemorate their first birthday. It's fun to watch it and see how much they have grown and changed over the past year. I think I have already watched it 20 times just because it amazes me to see it. Click on the play button on the picture below if you would like to watch. I give you fair warning that it is about 14 minutes long...I just could't make myself cut it down anymore!
We are still waiting for our first walker...but I am putting my money on Ava at this point. We will have to wait and see. She is starting to take a couple of steps, but she is always in such a hurry that she doesn't make it very far. She takes two running steps and then lunges at her target with all the confidence that they will catch her. If she would just learn to slow it down a little bit, I think she would have it. She has modified her kickstand stance a little bit so that now it is somewhere between a crawl and a walk. She kneels on one knee while pulling herself along with the other leg. There are no hands involved, which makes it amazing how quickly she gets around. The other big news for Ava is that she went from 0 teeth to 4 teeth in the past month!
Mya is still the little instigator of the group. She is a bit of a diva with all the charm and attitude to go along with it. I am guessing she is going to be the talker of the group. Her favorite thing to do now is repeat "no" everytime we say it to someone which is about 10 billion times a day lately. Quite a few of us have sworn we have heard her say "thank you" also when she is handed something.
Sweet Lia is my lover of the group. She just kind of hangs back most of the time and does her own thing. Every time you look at her and smile she always has a big smile to give right back to you. We have been in physical therapy for the past month or so with her to work on her trunk strength on her left side. She was having some balance problems and was often leaning to her left side, but she seems to be doing much better now with exercises. She is such a cuddle bug...she is always the first one to clap and she has been waving a lot lately. Her latest thing is to smack her lips and blow kisses...so cute!
Well, one year down...I can't wait to see what the next year has to bring for us and to share it all with you! Again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everybody for all you have done for us during this first year.
Ava, Mya, Lia
The look on Ava's face cracks me up...it like she's saying "see what I have to put up with..."
