1.4.10: Jagged gums

Okay, so I refuse to call them teeth because they are barely visible - so I will call them 'jagged gums' until there is something actually resembling a tooth appearing in their mouths. It seems as though all the drooling may in fact be due to the future development of teeth. Fiona and Stella both have these jagged gums on the bottom front. So far, Daphne doesn't seem to have any jagged gums, but she is likely close behind due to the quantity of drool. Regardless, the girls are chewing anything they can fit in their mouths - finger and toes beware!

1.2.10: Another first Christmas Eve

Gotta get in those family photos when you have someone to take the picture and someone else to get the girls attention (Daphne, Stella, Fiona) - thanks Kochmans!


(Rob, Stella, Fiona, Kelly, Daphne)

The girls woke up again in their Christmas pajamas and we took a picture of the Kochmans in front of our little tree. Stella took a special liking to Rob's shirt during his stay - so much so he washed it in order to wear it again for her. I'm hoping it was the contrast in the shirt and not that Stella has a desire to go to a brewery already :)

(Now you're thinking, well why would he need to wash it, I'm sure it isn't dirty. Then you are thinking to yourself - oh wait, they have triplets - this means everything and everybody within ten feet of the girls get 'marked'. When coming to our home, check the jewelry - because they like to pull on it - and dry clean only clothes at the door - we can not guarantee their safety)

Notice that Kelly and Rob are in summer clothes. I suppose when you are visiting a southern ca winter- it does feel similar to a Seattle summer - don't worry I needed to wear a sweater as the temps were in the 70's....brrrr

(Grandy, Fiona, Kelly boy, Rob, Kari, Stella, Kelly, Daphne, Brant)

Today my family all got together to celebrate Christmas - a little late. Since we celebrate Christmas Eve instead of Christmas the girls got a second Christmas Eve celebration and they are only six months old - how lucky! This time, I remembered to get a picture of the girls in their dresses :) My mom and Kelly boy drove over leaving Arizona in the wee hours of the morning. We were able to celebrate just before Kelly and Rob had to head back to Seattle in the evening. It was a very action packed afternoon. We are so lucky all of our family was able (and willing) to travel to our home for the holidays this year.

1.1.10: 2010

Wow, 2009 was a wonderful and crazy year. I can't wait to see what 2010 will bring. I would like to pretend that we stayed up late partying like the old days with Kelly and Rob, but the reality is that we were all in bed within the first thirty minutes of the new year. Hey, at least we stayed up until the new year - I'm proud of that. Gotta celebrate the accomplishments and staying up until midnight was a big one for us.


Kelly, Rob and I went to the Rose Bowl parade on New Year's Day - ahh the luxury of walking five minutes to a parade that people waited hours and travelled for days to view (brings back memories of Chicago and walking home from the Cubs games - total travel time 1 min 47 seconds). Brant watched the girls so we could go into the big crowd baby-less. The parade was great. The florist in me was going crazy. The abundance and creativity of the huge variety of flowers on the floats was amazing. What a great parade!

12.30.09: Yum auntie

(Kelly and Fiona - Kelly's face in the mirror cracks me up, trying to convince Fiona to open her mouth is a big task).

Auntie Kelly tried feeding all the girls some rice cereal. The girls still aren't really interested in swallowing the food. Fiona is starting to think about it and at least gets the cereal into her mouth. Daphne usually blows raspberries into the spoon upon it getting close enough to her lips (I am now questioning if teaching this trick to them was smart - I should have done a little more cost/benefit analysis first). Stella likes to open her mouth, pretend she is going to take a bite and then once the cereal is in her mouth, she lets it all drip/drool out of her mouth. The girls seem to be doing better sitting up (assisted) and don't mind the feeding table. I think we are getting closer each day to actual consumption.

12.29.09: A baby for everyone

(Brant/Daphne, Christina/Stella, Ragan/Fiona)

Many times during the holidays I found myself baby-less - ie not holding a baby. I'm still not quite sure what to do when this happens and typically find some baby related chore to do instead. Regardless, you can tell the girls love having so many people around and everyone seems to love holding them. I thought this was an adorable unstaged photo taken just before Ragan and Christina headed back to NY. (I think both Brant and Daphne are blowing coordinating raspberries) Did I say it was great to have everyone here - it really was! Kelly and Rob arrived just in time to overlap with Ragan and Christina allowing the girls to be spoiled even longer :)

12.25.09: First Christmas

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

After posing for some photos the girls watched as many of their presents were opened. They wore their Christmas dresses but for some reason I don't have any pictures from that early in the day - perhaps because we were all opening presents.

We didn't think napping in Christmas dresses would be too comfortable, so they wore their pjs the rest of the day. Soren and Mona stopped by (with Ian and Devin). Here are some cute pictures of the kids all together (all Nana's great grandkids).

(left to right: Devin, Ian, Stella, Daphne, Fiona)

Who could resist a big group picture? I don't think our home has ever had so many people in it - it was wonderful!



(Evan, Bonnie, Daphne, Melissa, Ian, Ragan, Mona, Devin, Christina, Fiona, Soren, Kari, Stella, Brant)

12.24.09: First Christmas eve

In my family, Christmas is really held Christmas Eve - not exactly sure where that started from, but that is the way it has always been. Brant's family always celebrated Christmas on Christmas. It actually worked out really well when everyone was located in Seattle as we got to celebrate with both families on 'their' Christmas. Brant and I aren't exactly sure how we are going to handle Christmas once the kids get bigger but this year they didn't understand what is going on so we decided we could postpone any establishment of traditions until next Christmas. Since all of Brant's family was here for the holidays we decided to spread the festivities from Christmas eve until the new year when my family was arriving - why not celebrate more?

We skyped with my sister and Rob on Christmas eve while they were in Houston. This is a picture of the girls looking at the computer waiting for their Uncle and Aunt to talk to them....seems like they know what is about to happen when the computer gets put on the floor. Yay skype!


(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

Then we had all the Uncles, Aunt and Aunts-to-be pose with the girls. (Melissa/Daphne, Evan/Rob/Kelly, Ragan/Fiona, Christina/Stella)


Santa brought each girl a stuffed animal that they opened with mommy. Thoughtfully, Santa wrapped these presents in tissue paper so the girls could more easily open it. Stella was definitely into pulling the paper off to find her pig. Fiona sure loved the alligator and immediately started chewing on its nose. Daphne wasn't so sure about the whole thing but seemed to like her aardvark.

12.23.09: Tasty toes

Toes are an exciting thing here in the Robertson household. Thankfully there are thirty baby toes to choose from. Daphne has been the most interested in her toes as many mornings she whines until her toes are released from her sleeper so that she can grab them more easily. Given her love of toes and love of licking it was only a matter of time until the two worlds combined...and today they did. It took me a while to capture a shot of this tasty nibbling but it was totally worth it. Fiona loves playing with her toes but isn't in to licking them just yet - currently she is more excited about pulling hair and ears. Stella tries to grab her toes, but then ends up rolling onto her side and gets into barrel roll - one of her favorite things. Stella is drooling like crazy and puts anything into her mouth she can find. Fiona is enjoying chewing on things as well, but somehow manages to drool quite a bit less. I anticipate teeth in the next month.

12.19.09: Rice cereal

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

After several days with little success 'eating' carrots (but tons of success getting them on everything), we decided to step back and try rice cereal. Apparently, this is the normal first food as it is heavily diluted with milk and basically tastes like nothing (although Brant nor I have tried it). I am happy to report that rice cereal is white and leaves no orange residue - which I am still finding throughout the house. This left me to ponder, is it bad if they just eat rice cereal forever? We put Grandma to work shortly upon arrival.



I am happy to report that I completed the girls' stockings just in time for Christmas. I'm not sure that anything will really fit into them, but they coordinate with the ones my sister made Brant and I back in 2003. This is a picture of our mantel decorated for the holidays. We actually have a fireplace for the first time. Yes, that's right - we didn't have one in Boston or Chicago (where it would have been used all the time) but instead we have one in LA - where the sun always shines and the winter temperatures are in the 60s.

12.17.09: Lunch date

(front to back: daphne, fiona, stella)

Today was so beautiful out you would never know it was December. It was in the 70's so the girls and I went to have lunch with Brant. For all those experiencing that thing they call 'winter' I just wanted to let you know that I wore a short sleeve shirt and the girls needed their sunhats (which MAY be a bit too small). I didn't know December could ever feel this way.