Boston Baby Photos

I mentioned awhile back that an old college friend (now professional baby photographer) photographed the boys on their first birthday. Visit her site to see her work: Boston Baby Photos. Here are a few of her fantastic shots of the boys:

The wagon

Hanging out on the wall

One year old (Win, Wes, Charlie)

Charlie, Wes & Win

Winston

Wesley

Charlie

The fam

We have another nephew!

Lala and Bias (Lori & Tobias) welcomed their son, Liam Christof Erich Janke into the world yesterday! Everyone is doing well, but please pray for Lori's recovery and for Liam's lung maturity, blood and blood pressure. He arrived early, so he is in the NICU. Please pray for the hands of the doctors and nurses that are caring for them.

Separated at birth? Wes and Alan Alda

While Ginger racks up hours thoughtfully documenting our experience with the boys, here is Daddy's contribution...

Costco & friends

We brought the boys to Costco for the first time yesterday. Yes, perhaps not so smart to do so on a Saturday when they are mobbed. But, as you can imagine, we made quite a scene while I pulled them in the wagon and Rob pushed the cart. We even ran into a woman who was a triplet herself! But their favorite part was their new toy from the store: a huge box.

Wesley and Charlie climbed right in

Winston discovered he was missing out on the fun

...and decided to climb in with his brothers.

Just like the womb.


We also had a fun week of play dates. Stephanie brought her 9 month old twins, Sophia and Ethan, over to play. The boys also got to play with Lucy & Owen, whom they have missed for the last two weeks while they were away on vacation. And wouldn't you know that I missed out on photos from their visit! Just close your eyes and imagine the triplets and Owen all in the ball pit together. And Lucy and Owen showing the boys how to ride their cars. Much fun.

Ethan, Sophia and Winston (yes, he has a black-eye)

Ethan smiling for the camera

Charlie

Wes

What's it like to be a triplet?

I just came across this Psychology Today article titled "What's it like to be a triplet?". I imagine it is different for every set of triplets, but we can certainly relate to the parents. We've already been warned that the boys will be split up into different classrooms once they start school (unlike the family in the article). And I'm hoping they are all best friends - unlike these kids! But it is a good reminder that we need alone time with each of them, as opposed to always thinking of them as a unit...or a gang...

A great (photoless) weekend

I seem to keep forgetting my camera!

Our dear friend Carl came over Saturday night to hang out, help baby-proof the kitchen, bring us tomatoes from his garden, and enjoy a meal together on the sun porch (boys included). We miss that he doesn't live around the corner from us anymore!

Sunday was a great day with the boys. The slept in until 7am (!!) and we all enjoyed a breakfast blueberry pancakes together (we're working on eating more meals together as a family). After their morning nap, we brought them to a (new to us) local toddler park. Great concept, but yet again we were outnumbered. Some of their favorite things: eating the wood mulch, eating the sand from the sandbox (by the handful), the swings and sliding head-first down the slide (whether we were ready for them or not). So after much playing in the sun, we drove the few blocks into town for some ice cream.

Monday was the great unveiling of all of Rob's hard work baby-proofing the kitchen. We took down the gates so they could now roam freely from the playroom to the hall to the kitchen to the sun porch. (The dining room and living room are still gated off...for now.) They were so giddy - it was so cute to listen to them squeal with delight and laughing! We enjoyed another family meal together on the porch, enjoying the beautiful evening. A great weekend overall!

Getting out...

For the last two weeks, the boys and I have enjoyed getting out of the house and hosting play dates. Last week, for the very first mommy-only outing, I took the boys to Lowes and Toys R Us. Not bad for little men! We desperately need to baby-proof our kitchen so that the boys have more room to roam. They are no longer pleased with being gated-in in either the playroom or the sun porch. So I pulled the boys around Lowes in the wagon searching for child-proofing locks and screws - they have learned to pull over the radiator covers, so we're going to have to screw them to the wall! It is so liberating to take the boys out by myself! I know most new moms are out and about days or weeks after the baby is born. But in the old apartment, we couldn't just leave the boys out on the front porch as we ran up and down the stairs getting the others. And when we moved to the 'burbs, we didn't have anything that held all 3 until recently. So it has taken me a year, but it's worth it.

Sweet Ava

Our dear friends Mark and Lesa have a beautiful girl, Ava, who is just a few weeks younger than the boys. They were in town visiting last week, so Lesa brought Ava over for a playdate. It was so good to see them as always!

The little beauty

Wesley became enamored with Ava. I seriously have never seen him so happy!

Wes nuzzling Ava

Look at that smile on his face!

Ava and Win playing in the ball pit

Lesa and Charlie

More Maine

Before I let our Maine visit get too far away from us, I wanted to post a few more photos from the trip.

We went out to eat for the first time with the boys while in Boothbay Harbor. And as it turned out, not only was it babys' first meal out, it was also babys' first dive bar, babys' first fried shrimp and babys' first french fry. And yes, we took them at 11am and the place was empty.

The rain cleared for a few hours one afternoon, so Grammy & Poppy and I took the boys to Pemaquid Lighthouse.

Brayden, Colby and Hayleigh were so great with the boys - they would come over every day to help out and play with them. Here they are feeding the boys lunch.

Babys' first trip to the beach! And yes, this is a beach. In the two weeks of rain, there were a few beautiful days. So when the sun came out, Grammy and I brought the boys to Sandy Cove, a little corner of sand amongst the rocky shore. And on this trip we learned that the boys will eat anything and everything - ocean water, seaweed, handfuls of sand and rocks. And for the rocks that were too big, they would just try to gnawl on them like they were sharpening their teeth. We also learned that if we are not on home turf, we should never be outnumbered. Two adults to three toddlers on a beach was...exhausting.

Charlie with sand all over his face and shirt, while Win eats the beach in the background.

Dining on the deck with Poppy.

On our last night, we all gathered down at the cottage Jim & Mi Jung rented for a lobster and clam feast. We needed a place to contain the boys and found the empty kiddie pool was perfect! Alex jumped in and they all had a great time playing together. It was funny to watch the boys. Win and Wes immediately started bouncing all over the place, squealing with delight, while Charlie just sat there taking it all in. After a few minutes, Charlie just got up and flipped himself over the side!

The fam

What the cove looked like for most of the trip

But where there is rain, there is a rainbow

The other highlights of the vacation were the huge clambake down at Jim's and being treated to a Korean feast from Mrs. Kim. Hopefully both will become traditions for years to come!

Maine Birthday Party

We just returned from a two week vacation in Maine with family and friends. We only get to see everyone (my brother, sis-in-law and her parents, niece, nephew, and the Green Pond gang) once or twice a year. So it was wonderful to be with everyone, despite the fact that it rained every day but two. Thankfully, one of those two days was the boys' Maine Birthday Party, held on the lawn of my brother's rental cottage. (This is the same cottage my parents rented when my brother and I were very young - so it was quite special!) It was held on August 5th, the day that Charlie and Wesley came home for the first time (after 11 days in the NICU). (Winston came home the following day.) It also marked our 4 year anniversary with Julep!

The best birthday party location! The boys hanging out with Hayleigh and Brayden.


Mrs. Kim and our nephew Christian

Pool time! Wesley started reaching down and trying to drink the water. Perhaps he was trying to tell us something?

Grammy and Win drying off on the steps

Cousin Alex showing Charlie & Wes how to use the phone. I love that Charlie is reading the directions.

Aunt Jen Jen deep in conversation with Winston

Cake time!

The boys all grabbed their pieces of cake and shoved them in their mouths. At this point, we realized that green frosting was probably not the best idea...

Charlie and Daddy

Win and Mommy

Wesley mistakes Grammy's finger for cake


More Maine photos and stories to come...

Family!

Lala, Bias, Traci, Bruce, Ann & Abby came up to Boston for the boys' first birthday. The boys had so much fun playing with their cousins!
Ann playing in the tunnel

Wes, Winston and Charlie playing with Abby (Yes, Charlie has a bow in his hair. The boys kept going after Abby's hair bow, so she decided to share it with them - much to our amusement.)

Winston and Traci

Abby resting in the sunroom after a long day exploring Boston

Win, Charlie and Wesley playing with their birthday toy

The 1-year stats

Wesley, Charlie and Win just had their 12 month pediatrician appointment. Developmentally, you would never know these cuties were 34 week preemies! They are all right on track with other 1 year olds physically, verbally, socially, etc. Winston & Wes are right on track verbally by saying mama" & "dada (in the right context). Win also says banana (well, more like nananana). Charlie is enjoying practicing new words and imitating us. So far he has also said - in context - all done (though it sounds like ah duhhh), orange (orrrrun), banana (nana), more (muh), book (buh), yogurt (guh guh), and he'll say lalalalala into the microphone and ahchoo after sneezes. It amazes us how many phrases the boys understand: "go get the ball", "come to mommy/daddy", "no" (they know what this means - but they look at us and laugh or ignore us when we say it!)

But the best part - NO MORE FORMULA! The boys are moving onto whole milk. Although we'll save a lot of money, we're seriously looking into buying a second refrigerator. We also don't have to worry about avoiding any foods (like honey, peanut butter, egg whites, shellfish, etc), so that means they will get to try lobster when we go to Maine!

So the weigh-ins...

Winston
20lbs 9.6oz - 18th percentile
29 inches - 23rd percentile

Wesley
20lbs 15.8oz - 22nd percentile
29.5 inches - 39th percentile

Charlie
20lbs 1oz - 12th percentile
29.25 inches - 31st percentile

And unfortunately, the boys are now 3 for 3 on getting sick after birthday parties. So they are miserable little men right now.

Thank you Cortney!

Cortney has been our part-time nanny since the boys were 7 months old. She is the one who encouraged them to hold their own bottles so they could all be fed at once by one person, and introduced baby sign language during mealtime. Having her here allowed me to pack us for the move, unpack the house, freelance a few hours, get out of the house and do fun things like go to Costco, etc. She is off to college in New Hampshire, and now we begin our search for a babysitter.