6.7.12: Cousin!!!

Welcome Cooper Ingalls Kochman!

After seeing auntie's belly grow during weekly skype sessions, the girls are very excited to finally see their first cousin. 

Congratulations Kelly and Rob!

6.1.12: Defiant dancers

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

Immediately after returning from new york, Brant had to leave for an international business trip.  Given that the girls schedules were a mess (as expected), we had just converted to toddler beds before leaving and therefore sleeping was a mess (as expected) and everyone got sick immediately after getting home with pink eye, snot everywhere and 2/3 had ear infections I was very thankful that Nene was able to come and help.  I just love that regardless of illness, the girls still found the energy to dance.  You would never know they were sick by the giggles throughout the week.

(left to right: stella, fiona, daphne)

5.28.12: Penguins

(left to right: daphne, stella, fiona)

On our final day in new york city, we adventured to the central park zoo.  The zoo was rather small, but they did have penguins.  We lingered in the penguin area for a while because they were swimming all over and the girls were very entertained and let's be honest partly because it was air conditioned.  We were able to see many family members one last time before we adventured on our twelve hour trek home. From the time we left Ragan's apartment to arriving at our door was a solid twelve hours....it was a long day, but our time in new york with family was priceless.

5.26.12: Flower girls

Before we even left the apartment, we took a family photo (left to right: fiona, stella, daphne).  I just couldn't risk missing a photo of my wonderful family all decked out for Uncle Ragan's wedding. 

 

A majority of our time was spent wrangling/entertaining during the special day so my photos are limited.  Regardless, in this one moment fiona, stella and daphne were all sitting still.

The beautiful bride and groom.  We were so excited to witness and be part of this very special day.

After an unsuccessful attempt at rehearsing the flower girl walk the day before, we weren't sure what to expect for the ceremony.   We did however practice a lot in the morning with toilet paper 'flower petals' and a paper bag 'basket' to show the girls their responsibilities as flower girls.  We practiced so much, when we left all dressed up for the wedding, the girls were upset that we weren't bringing our paper bag/toilet paper with us.  Thankfully the Priest family had great flower baskets and purple petals for the girls to use in the real ceremony. 

Turns out the girls actually did really well.  They started off strong, fearlessly walking down the very long aisle placing petals.  Then...they ran out of petals.  Unsure what to do they dropped their baskets and began looking around for daddy (their go-to person at the front of the church).  Daphne and Stella spotted him and began running down the aisle.  Fiona turned around and started looking for me at the beginning.  Thankfully Ragan and Christina are laid back, so I became an honorary flower girl picking up baskets while convincing Fiona to run to daddy.  Christina got her flowers (although all within the first ten feet of the aisle) and the girls completed their task as flower girls. It was a very proud mama moment for me, the most adorable flower girls ever.

We found Great Nana.  After the wedding was the first time we got to see Great Nana and oh boy, were the girls (left to right: fiona, stella, daphne) excited.  I believe it went something like this "mama mama, look great nana, mama mama, great nana, great nana" followed by giant hugs.

I'm not sure that Fiona understands that her middle name came from Great Nana but she had been telling me for weeks about how Great Nana is her friend.  Every morning we were in New York she'd ask if we were going to see Great Nana.  Needless to say, once Fiona found her - there was no letting go.  They were connected the remainder of the night.

The girls had an amazing time at the reception, dancing like I have never seen them dance before.  Daphne found a friend of Ragan and Christina's and danced with him, pushing aside his girlfriend.  Stella had a great time dancing for the crowd and with Grace.  Fiona, well Fiona went crazy.  That child was grinning ear to ear the entire time dancing, bouncing on anyone who could hold her.  There was no shyness at all.  The girls got so tired from all the dancing, they began falling down and that is when we knew it was time to head out.  Of course we wish we could have made it until the end, but we all had a great time.  The next morning the girls woke up and wanted to do it all over again and it went so well, that we did too. Congratulations Uncle Ragan and Aunt Christina!

5.25.12: Making friends

Attempting to get some energy out before the rehearsal the Robertson aunts, uncles and nana adventured to a nearby park. After countless questions about the girls and their age (yes seriously, triplets) this young man decided it was his job to push Daphne in the swing.   This wasn't just one or two minutes of pushing, it was well over five minutes. I finally had to end our swinging session just to give the poor boy a break, I could tell he was getting tired but kept insisting that he push Daphne.  I just loved the smirk on her face in this picture.

Fiona and Evan mimicked my thoughts exactly, just how long will that boy want to push Daphne? Apparently for a very long time. We had a great day exploring new york even though we stayed nearby.

 Monkey (aka Fiona) on the monkey bars with Aunt Melissa.

Stella bear (aka Stella) found a giant bear statue and was very excited to ride it.

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.