One Whole Year

I cannot believe it has been a year since Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer entered the world to bless and change our lives forever. It feels like they’ve been here forever and it feels like it happened yesterday. Everyone has experienced that sensation, whether it is with kids, marriage or graduation. The days are long but the years are short. This last year has been such and amazing and difficult and life-changing experience. I never could have imagined an experience like this, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. This is the only parenting experience Adam and I have ever known, but sometimes I look around me at the 3 beautiful babies that follow me everywhere and I think, “This isn’t normal.” It feels normal to me because it’s my life, but somewhere inside I know, this isn’t normal.
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/We finally gave in and have let the prisoners out of their baby jail. They were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the arrangement. They now have the run of the downstairs, excluding the laundry room, office and bathroom (because those are the only rooms with doors). I would close off more if I could, but it would take a lot of gates. So far we only have one, and it’s for the stairs. The kids are ecstatic about the freedom. We are less so. There are so many things to keep them out of. Short of padding the walls, our only other option is to chase them around as they lick windows, try to destroy blinds, bang toys on the walls, rip off door stoppers, lick the trash can, smack the TV and each other. It’s exhausting to ruin all their fun!
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/Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer are cruising around the furniture like pros. Brinlee likes to stand behind me, grab my legs, poke her head out by my knees and walk with me. They all love to pull on our pants. Brinlee is such a monkey that she will grab on to my leg and hold on while I walk/limp.
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/Progress with the sippy cups is coming along. They get water with each meal and are holding their own sippies to drink. I have to fill it all the way to the top because they don’t quite get the concept of tipping it up more to get more to drink, but they’re getting there. They’re doing great. When we have the one year appointment and get the ok to switch to whole milk from formula, I hope to get rid of the bottles entirely.
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/We have all of our meals as a family now (whichever parts of the family are home). Adam gets to have dinner with us at least twice a week and sometimes more. Since we eat at 5:30 and he has a 40-ish minute commute, it’s not easy for him to be here at that time. We’re just happy if he makes it home in time for bottles and bed, but we are ecstatic when he gets to join us for dinner. The kids are doing great with their eating and like pretty much everything. I feed them mixed vegetables a lot because they are already cut up for me, and Brinlee always eats everything on her tray except the corn. She even likes the lima beans more than corn! If there is nothing else, she’ll start into that too, but only as a last resort. All three especially love green beans. They’ve also recently had pickles, jalapenos, and chilies (mild). They basically eat whatever we are eating. There are still some foods on the no list because of potential allergies, but we hope to get the green light from the pediatrician this week for eggs, tomatoes, berries and citrus fruits.
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/They each have their own eating habits. Brinlee takes her time eating. Just when I think she must be finished, she goes for another piece of food. She lingers over her food, just like her mom and granddad. She picks everything up with a dainty little grip and carefully places it in her mouth. Occasionally her grip is so delicate that she loses her delivery half way to the destination, but she completes the route anyway. At the end of the meal when I take her tray off, she will look down into the pocket of her bib and realize, with great delight, that there is more food in there! She immediately starts sorting through looking for her favorite things.
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/Sawyer likes to sort his food. He’ll put all of his chicken into his cup holder, for example. I also like to separate my food, but that is a habit I acquired later in life after I took a bite of my jello and it had gravy on it. So. Gross. Anyway, Sawyer developed this habit all on his own. He still loves to eat and just yums and yums the whole meal. He’s still not quite ready to feed himself, although he picks up his food the whole time. Last night he fed himself a cracker, and we were very excited!
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/Kimball eats so fast! I can’t cut up food fast enough to keep something on his tray to eat! He double fists it. Both hands are full of food that he is shoveling in as fast as he can. If I don’t keep up with his efficiency, I hear about it. It just takes so long to cut everything into teeny tiny pieces for three little mouths.
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/All three of our kids are carnivores like their mama. They always go for their meat first, though they do love their veggies and bread. That’s a good thing, because I’m not sure a vegetarian would be very satisfied in our house for very long. It amazes me how very different our kids are. They came prepackaged with their own personalities and character traits. They are definitely unique.
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/Even though they have the run of the downstairs now, they are still pack animals and follow each other around the house. If one of them decides it’s time to move to a new area, they will crawl away, turn and signal to the others to follow, and off they go. They also stalk me as a group. If I go into the laundry room, bathroom or office, or up the stairs to get something, all three of them are standing guard when I come out. They follow me around the downstairs, holding on to my pants.
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/Brinlee finally got some teeth! 2 days before her birthday she got her two front teeth at the same time. So far that’s all she’s got. Sawyer has his two bottom teeth, and Kimball has one of each. Kimball might be the first to get his third tooth. I think the other top one is coming in.
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/It’s fun to see the various ticks and qualities they have inherited from our two families. I was beginning to think that Kimball was a carbon copy of his dad and had nothing of me, but now that his hair is getting longer, I can see he has my curls. Brinlee has my mom’s facial features, but Adam’s face shape, which is more square. Brinlee also does this one eyebrow lift when she smiles, just like grandpa does. It’s kind of like their version of a wink. She is also unbelievably strong, which is like Adam’s sister, Serena. That’s part of what made her such a great soccer player (that and playing with 4 brothers), and able to survive 4 brothers. Sawyer looks a lot like me, but he is starting to remind me more and more of my brother, Eric, which is good, because we want Sawyer to be masculine :). Sawyer also has the engineer I-need-to-know-how-everything-works mentality of granddad and grandpa. He studies everything and turns it over and over in his hands.
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/The kids have figured out what the kissing sound is. We blow kisses to them all the time, and now they kiss back. They either smack their lips or smack with their tongues, but the sound is the same. If I kiss at them, they kiss back. The other day we were in the car for an errand, and I had a chorus of kisses coming at me.
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/We had lots of quality time with the Guinn family this month. The first weekend of October was their birthday party at a farm. The kids sat on their first pony (which they hated), went on a hayride, fed a camel and some other farm animals, and attempted to eat bark. It was a fun party, and we were glad to be there and share it with them.
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/The next weekend we went to a local apple festival. We went in the choochoo wagon, since it’s easier to pull over grass than a stroller. Boy did we draw a crowd. The local senior center ladies were doing their line dance performance as we walked by, and everyone turned to see the two sets of triplets cruising by. I learned a dirty trick. When we’re out with the Guinns, if I’m walking ahead and people stop and ask if we have triplets, I’ll say, “yes, but those kids behind us are triplets, and they’re IDENTICAL.” I step aside to allow them to stampede over to Kim and let her have all the annoying questions glorious attention. There were lots of crafts and food. All I wanted was a funnel cake, and by the time I decided I was ready for one, the lines were at least an hour long. So I guess I saved myself from an indulgence, but I still really want one! For lunch the kids had their first corndog and like it a lot. What’s not to like? It’s a hot dog, and it’s fried. The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time. Brinlee loves loud noises, and as we were puttin gthem in the car to leave, a harley next to us revved his engine to leave. Brinlee thought that was the greatest thing. If she ever tries to actually get on a motorcycle, I’ll have to lock her in a closet for 5 years. During lunch we took our wagons to the back and sat in the grass in a shaded spot to eat. That’s when we were literally surrounded on all sides, like a zoo exhibit. People were pointing and asking questions. One lady even came and parked her keister on the ground next to Kimball and started trying to feed him. Please get away from my child. It is so bizarre to be on display like that.
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/The next weekend was Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer’s birthday on Saturday, and Adam’s on Sunday. Both sets of grandparents came to town for the party, and we were so excited to have them here! We had a small party on Saturday with a monkey theme, because that’s what we have, three monkeys. We had a wonderful time and were so glad everyone could come. The kids hated the cake. If anyone tolerated it, it was Kimball, but Sawyer gagged as soon as we put the frosting in his mouth. That would be really, really sweet if you’ve never had sugar before.
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/Before the party, Adam had put Sawyer and Brinlee into the wagon for a short ride, but before he could get hold of Kimball to put him in too, Kimball grabbed the handle of the wagon and was crawling along pulling them! He pulled until he ran into a wall. Of course by the time I got the camera, he was finished, and we couldn’t get him to repeat it. He is one strong little boy!
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/Adam’s birthday was a little more lowkey. He got his favorite Texas sheet cake and a nice dinner out with everyone the night before.
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/For Halloween we went as the Shrek family (Shrek and Fiona had triplets at the end of the third movie). We went the the Fall Festival with the Guinns at the church they attend. When Kim told me it started at six, I told her no way. Our kids start bed time bottles at 6:30. I have never messed with bed time. Kim told me to RELAX! I confess, I can be a bit rigid. Kim likes to knock me out of my comfort zone. So we went, and it wasn’t a disaster. Sawyer was really tired and a little stoned, but the other two had a great time, especially Brinlee. She was very happy. We all dressed up, although Adam insisted that Shrek wears jeans, so he could too. The kids refused to wear their ears.
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/We have a ton of pictures. Enjoy!
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/Sawyer and Kimball helping daddy put together a birthday present.
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/Sawyer and granddad
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/The birthday kids!
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/The Guinn girls are experienced birthdayers, and felt obliged to show them the ropes. Thanks girls!
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/The monkey cake. Chocolate, of course.
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/Kimball eating cake.
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/The Guinn girls tackling Nana and each other to get more cake!
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/Grandpagiving Kimball a bottle. That kid loves to lounge!
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/Here are the one-year pictures:
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/Brinlee
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/Brinlee, Sawyer and Kimball
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/Sawyer
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/Kimball and grandpa
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/Kimball
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/Mommy and Sawyer
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/Mommy with Kimball, Brinlee and Sawyer
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/Action shot!
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/Sawyer, Kimball and Brinlee
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/Mommy and Kimball
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/Mommy and Brinlee
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/Grandma and Grandpa with Sawyer, Brinlee and Kimball
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/They hated the cake
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/They got it all over them, but didn’t want it in their mouths. They got it all over me too!
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/Daddy and Kimball with the pony
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/Daddy helping Brinlee ride the pony
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/Daddy helping Sawyer ride the pony
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/Halloween:
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/Our little ogres in their wooden wagon
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/The Guinn chicks brave being so close to 3 ogres! They look like a good snack!
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/Brinlee teetering and tottering. Sawyer is keeping mommy warm.
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/Kimball with his chick (not that he’s playing favorites)
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/Sawyer and his chick
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/This picture pretty much says it all. Brinlee was loving it, Kimball was fascinated with everything, and Sawyer was ready for bed.
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/I love Halloween!
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/Mommy, Brinlee and Sawyer on a train ride!
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/Here’s the train
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/Daddy and Kimball get a turn!
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