We are homeowners!

We have the keys to our first home! We were warned about the number of pages that would need to be signed or initialed. It actually wasn't as bad as we expected. Although I somehow lost out and had to sign my first middle maiden and last name every time. Four names to Rob's two! My favorite form was the one that lists your possible aliases. We tried to get the lawyer to add "Buckshot Bunn" to Rob's, but it didn't make the list. To celebrate we're going to have champagne tonight. But we're going to have it with hotdogs since we just signed away all of our money!

Rob carrying me over the threshold

Our new baby

And to our surprise, we received an amazing housewarming gift from our friend (and realtor), Noah and his wife Lisa. A lawnmower! Rob was so excited, he threatened to go cut the lawn in his buttondown and khakis.

Win & Wes on the move

Yesterday, both Winston and Wesley got on their hands and knees and started scooting forward with their back legs.

Here's a photo of Win

Wesley and Charlie playing together. (Wes stood there unassisted for a long time!)

(Disregard the hand holding Wes up...)


And I have to share something that just cracked me up. I was looking at eHow.com to research the steps needed to install a banister and a dishwasher. I was curious to see what articles they had for triplets. I found one that said "How to feed Triplets". Here I am thinking that someone has finally figured it out and is answering this million dollar question with step by step instructions. And it said, Step 1: Get some help.

10 months old

The boys turn 10 months old today. They are active little men. And they are getting big! They have 3 meals of solids a day and 4 bottles (soon to be 3), so it seems like we're always feeding them. But they are doing great with foods, quickly preferring finger foods and feeding themselves to being spoon-fed. The sweetest thing is watching them all dance (sway back and forth) whenever they hear music or singing. And changing them has become a full contact sport. They want to flip over to the moment I put them down, so there are toys to distract, shoulders pinned, wrestling with legs. I think we will quickly move to changing on the floor.

Winston is quickly becoming very mobile. He is getting up all his hands and knees and often looks like he is doing yoga poses. He still gets around by squirming, pivoting and rolling, but not for long. The other day, he was sitting on the floor in front of me. He turned around and pulled himself up on me to a standing position and proceeded to squeal with delight. The other major change for Win is that it seems like he's developed a bit of a sensitivity to new places. At both Rob's graduation and my new mom's group, he was fine when I was holding him, but then when I was out of eye-shot, quickly melted down and could not be consoled for nearly an hour. So we're going to work on bringing them new places and making sure we are holding or in view of Win. This really surprised me since it came out of nowhere, but I guess this is common at his age.

Wesley is also more mobile. He can get around so quickly with his pivoting and rolling. He will get on his belly and quickly kick him legs and move his arms, so he is close. He is curious - he will reach under the chair and pull out toys or find the wires under the jumper. But he is also content to sit in one place and play with the toys around him (which I appreciate!). And the moment you pick up Wes and stand him in front of you, he will start jumping. Seriously, the boy would jump all day if he could. It was so sweet to witness Win and Wesley interact the other day. While I was changing Charlie, Win and Wes were in the crib together, facing each other on their bellies. They would rub their heads together and then look at each other and smile and giggle. I can only wonder if this is what they used to do in the womb.

Charlie is always on the move. And I mean always. He is even like a pinball in his crib when he is sleeping. And he is not stopped by blockade. Yesterday, I put an exersaucer in front of the recliner so he wouldn't climb up on it or crawl on Julep's bed, so he figured he could crawl through the exersaucer to get to the other side. He is crawling on hands and knees, climbing on anything and everything. (In the time it took to write that sentence, he climbed up on our packed boxes, the outside of the happy jumper, the coffee table - where he almost reached the coffee mugs and magazines, and now he's eating my slipper. No, now he's in my lap because he tried to eat my power cord.) But the best is the pause before getting into something he shouldn't where he looks back over his shoulder at me and smiles. Also, Charlie has started signing "more" during mealtime!

Taking photos of all 3 is nearly impossible as they don't stay on their backs. I was able to take one photo. (L-R: Win, Wes & Charlie)


This is what the rest of the time was like...

4:50am

The good news is that in less than a week, we will be homeowners. Next Wednesday, we will sign away our life savings (thankfully they are not requiring our firstborn). The packing has begun, but it is a slow process. Thankfully, our wonderful part-time nanny, Cortney, has been able to watch the boys so I can pack, run off to the bank to deal with the money for closing, etc.

The bad news is that the boys have moved up their wake time. They seem to be making a habit of waking up at 4:50am. That's not morning, that's still the middle of the night! So, we're not exactly well-rested. Rob is now officially back to work full time. I definitely miss having him home with us (even if he was upstairs working or studying). But I'm thankful for how blessed we were to have the boys' first 9 months together at home, let alone my pregnancy/bedrest. People always asked us how we would survive having triplets while Rob was in school, but it turned out to be best thing possible for family.

In the 3 hours it has taken to type this post, I have had to chase down Charlie 7 times, bounce Wes on my lap, move the box that Win managed to straddle, stop and take the boys in the kitchen to feed them breakfast, sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Wheels on the Bus, change them, read to them and put them down for a nap...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

As a token of their love, the boys had a Red Sox T-shirt customized for their Daddy's birthday today.



Happy Birthday!

A wonderful Mother's Day

The greatest gift on Mother's Day? Sleep! Rob let me sleep in - though how times have changed when waking at 7:30am is considered sleeping in! He prepared a special breakfast (my favorite: bagels with cream cheese, salmon, capers, red onions and lime, and of course, mimosas) for all of us. We then headed out to Grammy and Poppy's to celebrate the day. Rob prepared crab cakes and salads for all - it was such a treat.

But I must say, one of the most special parts of the day was when my parent's mentioned they found a 1st grade Mother's Day project that I did in school: Haikus for Mom. There on the first page was the haiku I wrote for my mom when I was 6. So as a present for my first Mother's Day, my parent's wrote me a haiku:

Gently nurtures three
Clothed with dignity and strength
Brings sweet joy to all

How sweet is that! Thank you Mom & Dad!

Granny, Poppa, Winston, Uncle Raymond, Charlie, Wesley and Nanna

A Mother's Day portrait (Winston had his new pouty face on, but he was also sitting in my lap practicing his "m" sounds by saying "mamamamama"!)

Charlie

Winston

Wesley

Julep

Happy Graduation!

Rob graduated with his Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Magna Cum Laude, no less!) on Saturday. Four years of hard work (and triplets, no less), it was a day to which we all looked forward. To celebrate the occasion, Rob's family (Nanna, Poppa, Granny and Uncle Raymond) came up from Virginia. It has been a wonderful visit. And as always, they have been a tremendous help. Winston, Charlie and I came down with a nasty cold and fever. Their care allowed me to sleep off my fever and recover.

The processional (Rob missed me yelling "Robbie! Robbie Robbie!" like some paparazzi.)

Nanna and Grammy with Wes and Charlie. (Poppy spent the entire ceremony outside the hall soothing a screaming Winston. Thank you Poppy!)

Posing after receiving his diploma

The recessional

The family


We had a small celebration for Rob afterwards. It will come as no surprise, but when asked how he would like to celebrate, Rob said, I just want to eat barbecue and hang out with friends and family. And that is what we did.

Friends on the porch


Elisa with (Carol and Jeremy's) Soren

Like father, like son. Winston found his bottom lip!

Uncle Raymond and Charles Raymond

Granny and Wesley

Nanna and Winston

Grammy and Charlie

Cindy & the Derby

We have had the pleasure of a visit from my dear friend Cindy, who is in town from San Francisco.

Here she is cuddling with Charlie, Wesley and Win


And because yesterday was Derby Day, Rob made Mint Juleps in our very own silver Mint Julep cups, a gift from the wonderful Jamie. Here are the 3 Juleps, 2 in the foreground, one in the back.

Parents of the Year: Juleps and kids

Owen & Lucy's birthday party

Today the boys went to their very first birthday party. Our dear friends Ellie and Kevin's kids Owen and Lucy turned 1 and 3 respectively. This was the first time the boys met Owen and Lucy.

And to say hello, Owen crawled over and sat on Wesley.

Charlie saying hello

Then Owen left Wes and Charlie and sat on Winston

Lucy preparing to blow out her 3 candles

Owen and his dad blowing out the candle (or grabbing the candle, in Owen's case)

Wesley

I've mentioned before that I really don't like doing posts about only one of the boys. But Wesley has recently provided a few amusing moments.

He found our basket of clean washcloths (our burp cloths)

Which then became a fun toy for him and Win

The best bedhead

The weigh-ins

We just had our 9 month pediatrician appointment, which of course means weights and heights! The boys are doing great. Developmentally, they are all somewhere between their age and their developmental (adjusted) age for language, motor skills, etc., which is more than we could ever ask for. Win has been saying "Dadadada" for awhile, but I swear that Charlie said "Mama" when I picked him up. Or so I choose to believe! Wes' first word will probably be Julep.

So the stats...

Winston
weight: 18lbs 15oz - 24th percentile
length: 28 inches - 41st percentile

Wesley
weight: 19lbs 8oz - 33rd percentile
length: 27.6 inches - 27th percentile

Charlie
weight: 18lbs - 12th percentile
length: 28 inches - 41st percentile

Both Win and Wes went up in percentiles for height and weight (if I hadn't been holding a baby or two, I would have written down from what percentile to what). Charlie went up in height, but way down in weight. Apparently all that moving burns calories! And it doesn't help when he crawls away halfway through his bottle! We'll have to slip him a few extra bites during their meals...

9 months old (yesterday)

Yesterday, the boys turned 9 months old. It is amazing to think they have now physically been with us longer than when they were in utero. Time is truly flying. They are all babbling away, sit with no problems, roll and squirm. Winston and Wesley are content to sit and play with a toy. Each has started to move backwards a bit - they are making a lot of progress on the floor with their rolling and creeping. Charlie is all over the place. Often when I sit on the floor and play with the boys, it really means playing with Win and Wes and constantly getting up to move Charlie away from things like our slippers (which apparently taste good), waste baskets, Julep's toys, etc. They now eat 3 meals day, in addition to their 4 bottles a day, so we feel as if we're constantly feeding the boys! They are not quite ready for finger foods and sippy cups, but we're practicing. And we are moving them out of their infant car seats, which means finally having to figure out new stroller options. We bought simple double and single umbrella strollers, which they enjoyed their first ride in on my birthday on our walk to pick up cupcakes. But I think the next step is to get the plastic bucket seats (like you see on the backs of bikes) and attach them to our current triplet stroller. There are not a lot of options when you have 3!

Winston, Wesley & Charlie at 9 months old:

We were only able to take a few photos of all 3 of them because they all move around so much (flipping, rolling, etc). And then Charlie decided to get on his knees and pull himself up to the crib railing.

And then before our eyes, he pulled himself up to a standing position for the first time.

Amazed at his own accomplishment! Time for us to lower the crib mattress again and remove the bumper!

33!

I turned 33 on Thursday. 33! My goodness. I can't believe I'm almost out of my early 30's! Now that I'm a mom, I feel a deeper appreciation for the meaning of a birth day and all the my parent's went through and felt on the day of my birth. So the day should really be a celebration of them.

What a difference a year makes...
Last year (celebrating at Grammy & Poppy's - with lobster no less). I was 5 months pregnant, but was already the size of someone 7 1/2 months pregnant with a single baby. And I still had 14 weeks to go! My parent's have always taken a photo of me on my birthday with daffodils. Apparently when my mom left to go to the hospital to have me, the daffodils had not bloomed yet. But when they returned, their garden was filled with them.

My birthday this year - with my 3 beautiful boys: Wesley, Charlie and Winston

Cheering for Daddy!

(That is how we spent the day.)

Rob received an email late last week informing him that he was receiving an award at the Honor's Convocation at Gordon Conwell. So we packed the boys and all headed up for the event, not knowing what award Rob would receive. Little did we know, he received not one, not two, but THREE awards! (One for each boy!) He is now a member of Gordon Conwell's honor society Phi Alpha Chi (short for Philoi Alethias Christou which means "lovers of the truth of Christ"), and received awards for "distinguished biblical and theological studies" and for "outstanding promise in the practice of preaching for pastoral ministry".

We're so proud of him. He is so humble, but I wanted to share the good news with you all.

The school is an hour away, so we ended up having a picnic for the boys so they could have their cereal. It is a gorgeous 80 degree day. The whole day has been such a blessing!