Well, three little girls turning three on the third of October is a pretty exciting occurrence. They didn't "get" the whole golden birthday thing, but boy did we have a fun day! We decided to have a cupcake and balloon themed party on their actual birthday which fell on a Wednesday. The day started with them waking up to a loft full of all different color balloons.
Brooke, Sydney, Taylor
The party was a blast, we had a total of 16 kiddos 3 and under and it was a complete success. It seemed that everyone had a great time and all the kids were so awesome and sweet! We played pin the tail on the donkey which was really fun, a little chaotic but fun nonetheless. I think Vaughn may have had the best time with that! He was a total trooper all day long!
B and T checking out the donkey
Game time! The kiddos did so great!
Vaughn wanted to play too!
After the game we headed outside for cupcakes. It was a mild day and as usual, Chris had the best idea to reduce the amount of mess, clean up. Brilliant!!! It was perfect to gather around the patio table and sitting wall and have at the brightly frosted cupcakes. Amazingly, or not, all the frosting made it into mouths only and the kiddos seemed to enjoy the sweets, HA! Then off to the play set to burn off some sugar energy.
I love cupcake faces:
Syd
Tay
Brooke
Triplet Jack
Sweet Ella
Triplets Katie, Sully, Kylie
Layla, Julia and their triplet brother Jack in the back ground
Play time
I had a total blast and from the looks of it we made our precious little girls very happy! It was a good day! I love these individual shots:
I have been so incredibly excited about the arrival of my first nieces! Today, they arrived one week early and are perfect! Itty bitty, and simply perfect!
Sophia Evelyn (5lbs 11oz) and Eva Suzanne (5lbs 1oz)
Rock star Mama enjoying her little miracles!
I had plans to be there when they came home from Ang's scheduled c-section but these little buggards decided to come early so I have to wait to meet them and I was dying to get there and meet them. It wasn't so bad, I got there just a few days later and they were amazing! They were so tiny and that brought back so many memories of having tiny little ones. I was able to stay with them for 5 days which was wonderful but man did I miss my little ones. All the little noises and faces newborns make are so sweet and I had the luxury of holding them and loving them all day long!
Here are a few shots from my visit:
Me snuggling with Eva
Pensive Eva
They weren't enjoying my attempt at a posed photo shoot
Teeny tiny toes
Beautiful, bright eyed Sophia
I can't wait for our kiddos to meet their cousins!
Proud parents walking down the aisle with a beautiful bride!
What a view!
It was an absolute perfect Summer day in Milwaukee for the outdoor wedding of Auntie Beth and Uncle Justo! The girls were flower girls along with Justo's niece, they all did such a great job walking down the isle preparing us for the presentation of the Auntie Beth. (I had the fortune of being a part of dress shopping with Beth and her Mother which was a really fun night and the dress she chose was beautiful!) The ceremony was at Villa Terrace on the East Side of Milwaukee, a super cool museum and gorgeous venue for a wedding.
Vaughn stylin' with Busia and Papa
We didn't get many shots of the walk, or the ceremony itself because well, we were wrangling three girls. Thank goodness Busia and Papa had a handle on Vaughn. And then it happened...the unthinkable, I could have never imagined this would happen. I'll start by saying I planned and planned and packed and packed to make sure this day would go smoothly with the kids. I had extra everything. The girls were "newly" potty trained and there was no way in heck that I was going to throw a pull up on one of them just because it was a big day and they were wearing fancy dresses, we had been accident free for weeks. So, just in case I had extra undies, and cute dresses, etc. What I did not plan for properly was myself, or so I came to realize. Literally about two minutes into the ceremony, Taylor wanted to sit on my lap instead of her chair, totally fine by me until...I felt a warm sensation and then heard dripping that went through my dress and the chair and created a massive flow of urine under us and to those seated behind us (we were in the front row). I have a clear vision of the man directly behind me spreading his feet to allow for the river of pee that was coming his way. There wasn't much for me to do because we were kind of trapped out on the terrace, all the side doors were locked and I was not about to walk dripping back down the center aisle and disrupt the ceremony. So, I grabbed the diaper bag and walked into the farthest corner I could find to try to remedy the situation. Thankfully Taylor was a total champ, she didn't cry or make one peep. AND, I have no idea how this happened, but aside from her underwear she was bone dry. Her dress must have pushed up when the got on my lap, so a change of underwear, and a quick wipe down with the baby wipes I only carry for Vaughn and we were back in business. My situation was a little more involved. The only saving grace was that I had a floral pattern down the middle of my dress and it was linen so it dried really quickly.
Family Pics
From left: Cousin Karyn, Mary with Vaughn, Cousin Kevin, Rick, Justo, Beth with Brooke, Uncle John, Me with Syd, Uncle Gene and Chris with Taylor
I know the photographers got much better shots where everyone is looking in the same direction, I get a kick out of these more action shots!
The girls had a blast playing with their cousin, Kristen who is the same age. They were all dancing so sweetly!
Taylor practicing her ballet, love those baby blues!
After the wedding everyone headed to the Charles Ellis Museum for the reception. Another gorgeous venue. Dinner with fun, the girls really were just excited about the cake!
I can't get enough of this video, what a sweet moment with Taylor and Daddy!
Sydney
Taylor
Brooke
Vaughn and me enjoying dinner time!
Cousin Karyn and Vaughn bonded!
Vaughn was on the verge of walking, he walked exactly one week later
Vaughn getting snuggles from Uncle John while they watch everyone dance!
The whole day was just lovely and the reception was a ton of fun spending time with family and dancing the night away. The girls and Vaughn were up until after 10 and they had a blast!!!
This is such an awesome age!!! OF course there are the "2" moments, but overall we are having a ball with the crazy silly things that come out of the girls little mouths. They are talking sooooo much and really want to be heard and talk about everything they do. All three girls seem to have a bit of a Boston accent when they say certain words. For example they say Paaark, Diiiiiapor, etc. It really cracks me up when they come over and say Mama change mi---i Diiipor. Brooke and Taylor have it really strong at times.
Sydney is still taking shorter naps than her sisters so she gets a lot of alone time everyday, which she seems to really enjoy. She is such a chatter box during this time. She is super sweet with Vaughn and since he is usually up when she gets up they play together a lot. Sometime it is less play and more aggravation over wanting the same toys. There are times when he is heading for a toy that Syd is not interested in at all and she gets up quick and swipes it away. You know, the normal sibling stuff. 90% of the time they are really adorable together and she kisses him and shows him how things work. Her thing these days is when she has a little melt down, or a big one, she will be working toward the end of it and between sobs she will say Mommy, Sydney is happy now. It is super cute but usually so not true. I think she got this one from Taylor. She counts really well and with her toenails painted she has really enjoyed counting her toes.
Taylor is our little performer. When she melts down it is big and really sad. She is a great independent player and does her own thing a lot, often her "big" sis Brooke follows her lead. She seems to get the most upset when Vaughn messes with the toys she is playing with. She loves to line up her people and animals very neatly and pretend play. She absolutely loves playing doctor and likes to be called Dr. Taylor. T loves to sing and dance and do anything where she can preform. She still tends to be pretty shy with new faces, but is not afraid to be the first to explore something new. She doesn't have a lot of fear in that regard. Taylor likes to say things are very very _____. She tells me she is very very cold, or her tummy hurts very very much (usually before breakfast and a long night of sleep), or that she is very very sick ( a ploy to get medicine). It's strange, all the girls love getting medicine, I think it is all the flavors that medicine has these days, it never tasted any good when I was a kid. They sure are sill.
Brooke, silly girl. She is full of mischief and fun. She loves to make up words to make us laugh and I can't get enough of her sweet little voice. This is one of my favorite shots, Chris was laying in the grass and Brooke came over and did this. I just love this!
This may have been the fastest year of my life so far. Everyone always says kids grow up so quickly and I am realizing that in full force. On one hand I feel like I have known this amazing little guy my entire life and yet I remember so vividly the morning of my c-section and the excitement and anxiety I felt. Our little buddy has changed so many things about our lives and has given me the joy of experiencing a single birth like most women do. The first few weeks were rough getting little sleep and all the things that come with a newborn, but once we got into a rhythm and routine Vaughn has been a near perfect baby. He slept through the night (12hours) at 9 weeks, is incredibly laid back with all the activity in the house with his three, two year old sisters and rarely fusses other than if he is hungry, tired or needs a new diaper. He loves attention from his sisters and always laughs when they come around. He loves to be part of the action and ALWAYS has a smile on his face. Vaughn is extremely vocal and amazingly to me he says a bunch of words already, ball, more, mama, dada, hi, bye bye, up, yum, bubble, monkey noises are the ones that come to mind. I think it goes to show how much quicker things happen when there are older siblings to learn from. He is watching the girls all the time and clearly learning. I often wonder if he really IS just easy, or if it is that our previous experience was the opposite of easy with 3 babies at once. Hmmm.
Vaughn has his one year check up a few days ago and he is doing fantastic, here are his stats:
Length 31.5inches (80th percentile)
Weight 21.9lbs (65th percentile)
Head didn't get the size (99.9th percentile)
He has been off the bottle and on Vitamin D milk since a few days before his birthday, so it feels like he is no longer a baby. Making the transitions were a breeze, he is such a champ! He eats pretty much anything I put in front of him. He loves turkey, peanut butter sandwiches, all veggies, chicken, beef, then only thing he is a little hesitant with is fruit when it is cold and slippery. Naps on the other hand area huge difference with this kiddo. While the girls were taking two naps until they were two, Vaughn barely needs a nap at all. If he misses a nap completely you would never know it. He has pretty much cut out the morning nap and in attempt to create a time where all kids are sleeping for at least an hour during the day, I decided to put him down to nap when his sisters nap at 11:30. He is definitely ready to go to bed at 5:30-6pm and sleeps until his sisters wake at 7am. All things considered, it is a great schedule we have going. I would much rather he sleep less during the day and more at night than the other way around.
Vaughn loving his new tractor from Auntie Ang and Uncle Eric. I had a similar tractor when I was a bit older.
He gets really silly when he gets out of the bath, when I wrap him in the towel he shivers and makes really funny faces and noises. Vaughn is a very silly boy.
BIRTHDAY CAKE!!! He was a little unsure what to do with the cake in front of him, thank goodness for his his sisters, they were more than happy to show him what to do. They even gave him finger fulls of frosting to lick off their fingers. Super sweet!
Taylor gave him his first sample of frosting
Brooke, crazy blue eyes
Syd enjoying the frosting too!
Might be my favorite picture of the girls yet! They really LOVE each other, most of the time!
This may have been the fastest year of my life so far. Everyone always says kids grow up so quickly and I am realizing that in full force. On one hand I feel like I have known this amazing little guy my entire life and yet I remember so vividly the morning of my c-section and the excitement and anxiety I felt. Our little buddy has changed so many things about our lives and has given me the joy of experiencing a single birth like most women do. The first few weeks were rough getting little sleep and all the things that come with a newborn, but once we got into a rhythm and routine Vaughn has been a near perfect baby. He slept through the night (12hours) at 9 weeks, is incredibly laid back with all the activity in the house with his three, two year old sisters and rarely fusses other than if he is hungry, tired or needs a new diaper. He loves attention from his sisters and always laughs when they come around. He loves to be part of the action and ALWAYS has a smile on his face. Vaughn is extremely vocal and amazingly to me he says a bunch of words already, ball, more, mama, dada, hi, bye bye, up, yum, bubble, monkey noises are the ones that come to mind. I think it goes to show how much quicker things happen when there are older siblings to learn from. He is watching the girls all the time and clearly learning. I often wonder if he really IS just easy, or if it is that our previous experience was the opposite of easy with 3 babies at once. Hmmm.
