5.24.12: Traveling to NYC

(left to right: stella, fiona, christina, daphne)

Our traveling began yesterday with the drive up to Nene's house.  Then today was the big flight to NYC.  Not much to say about the traveling today, it was probably what one would expect from flying with triplets and five days worth of luggage.  Thankfully Ragan met us at the airport.  I must admit without him, I think we would have taken twice as long to arrive at our final destination.  After a long day of traveling we arrived safely at the bride and groom's home (aka our temporary residence) to some smiling faces and willful readers.

5.20.12: Toddler beds for good

After months (really almost a year) of avoiding it, we have finally moved to toddler beds and now there is no going back.  The girls have completely outgrown their crib tents and while we were planning to wait until after our nyc trip to abandon them, they were recalled which sped up our transition.  I think this picture explains how well everyone is napping these days.  Thankfully nights go better, but naps are a giant struggle.  I must admit, they are surely loving their freedom.  The problem is that we have an instigator (who shall remain nameless) who pokes and harasses anyone who is sleeping....still working on resolving that.

5.17.12: Surprise play date

Due to a strategic break in between doctor appointments, Nicole and Peter came over for a weekday play date.  Nicole even convinced me to go out to a new restaurant for lunch.  It actually went pretty well except for the kids dominating the conversation, but we really didn't expect anything else.  The play date went so well, we even got a group picture at the end (left to right: nicole, stella, peter, daphne, fiona, me).

5.13.12: Swimming season

 

(left to right: daphne, stella, fiona)

Wow, I can't complain.  Homemade cards, flowers, crepes and sleeping in an hour(!) started off the day right.  Followed by an adventure to the children's museum, lunch out, and swimming for the first time of the season.  It was a great day of family fun, I am so very lucky and thankful for my family.

(left to right: daphne, fiona, stella)

5.6.12: Go Go Grandma

In an attempt to get some serious yard work done before the weather turns too hot, Nene came down to babysit for the weekend.  We haven't done much in the way of babysitting so this was also a test for everyone to build confidence in someone else watching our trio. 

Nene did great.  The girls (left to right: daphne, stella, fiona) were so busy I don't think they even realized that Brant and I were outside.  The girls did painting, play doh, stickers, games, puzzles and played outside (and those are just the activities that I saw).  Apparently the surprise hit was "walking balloons".  Who knew that a balloon on a string would entertain all three of them for over twenty minutes?  The girls each got to customize their balloons and enjoyed walking/running their balloons in circles around the house.  The girls and Nene had a great weekend while Brant and I made significant progress with our ongoing battle against the nature surrounding our house.  After Nene's departure the girls kept asking me what we were doing next, seems like they got used to Nene's suitcase full of activities.

4.26.12: Haircuts

Today was a big day for us, the girls got their first haircuts.  It has gotten quite warm here and become uncomfortable to have long hair.  They wake up from nap upset because their hair is sweaty and I find the long hair tangled around their necks.  After discussing with Brant, we decided that it was time they got haircuts. 

Having feared for the worst, we decided to get it professionally done for the first time and will probably follow-up with home trims as needed for a while.  I didn't know the level of squirming and tears that would occur.  Turns out nothing.  The girls were amazing.  Sure we'd been talking about how wonderful it would be to get their haircut, trying to get them excited for a neck that wasn't sticky, hair that didn't tangle, and the wind blowing their lighter hair...and it seemed to work.

As part of the quintessential mom experience, I kept a few ringlets of hair even though I'm not sure why, I didn't want to regret this decision later.  I will miss those ringlets for sure. 

On the way home the girls were so excited about their hair, they didn't want any clips or pigtails at all.  The requirement of such hair accessories had been a huge issue each day unless it was precisely accommodated.  The girls seem happy about their experience and don't find it to be a huge deal. I couldn't ask for anything more.

stella before & after

 fiona before & after

 daphne before & after

4.22.12: Happy Birthday Daddy

The girls were so excited that daddy made it home from Uncle Ragan's (bachelor) party to celebrate his birthday.  They colored the brown bag wrapping paper on his presents and had a great time discovering what they got him.  Yes, I had to keep it a secret from the girls too because they love to tell him what we did each day.  The girls also decorated his cake with red, green, yellow and blue icing.  Then they tried to tell me that tomorrow was 'their' birthday.....hmmmm.

4.18.12: Shopping with mama

For Christmas great great uncle vince and great great aunt dolores gave the girls (left to right: fiona, daphne, stella) some spending money with specific instructions to pick out some dresses.  Since our winter season is so short, we wanted to wait and get some summer dresses the girls could enjoy for a majority of the year.  For the past several weekends we had mama/daughter shopping time.  Brant had quality time with the other two girls at home while I ran errands (incl. dress shopping) with each girl individually.  This 1:1 time is rare, but everyone had a great time (including those at home with daddy). 

Fiona loves this bright blue color and once she found this bright dress she was not changing her mind about her selection.

Stella had a variety of pink dresses to choose from and selected this very colorful pink and white dress with flowers.

Daphne loves green but green dresses aren't very common this time of year.  She opted for this yellow dress with oranges and lemons.  Perhaps because there were green leaves on it and perhaps because it was not pink or blue (stella and fiona's colors).

4.13.12: Backyard

We finally got our pool full enclosed which means the girls (fiona/blue, stella/pink, daphne/orange) can finally run free in the backyard (minus any surprise animals of course).  It feels like our home grew 1000sqft overnight.  After hours of discovery we began watering everything in sight (flowers, rocks, sticks and of course themselves).  

4.6.12: Egg hunting

While we have celebrated many Easters past (2011, 2010), I feel like this Easter the girls really embraced the egg hunt.   Perhaps it was because they each had a basket in their favorite color (fiona/blue, daphne/green, stella/pink).    

The cutest part was about fifteen minutes after completing their egg hunt when they discovered that the eggs had something inside.  Since the girls don't eat candy, their eggs were filled with new magnetic letters for their white board easels. They were thrilled to find eggs and even more excited when they learned that the eggs were filled with a new surprise.

They also dyed eggs for the first time (left to right: fiona, brant, stella, daphne)

They were really excited when their names magically appeared on some of the eggs.