Oh Boy What a Year!

May 2008  Brett 4 lbs 12 oz  17 1/2" -Jackson  4lbs  5 oz 17"-Peyton 4 lbs 2 oz 17"

May 2009  Brett 16 lbs 2 oz 27 1/2" Jackson 19 lbs 28 1/2" Peyton 19 lbs 5 oz 28"

It's hard to believe the tiny babies we could hold all at once a year ago are getting ready to take their first steps. Everyone tells you it goes by fast and the first few months were such an adjustment I felt like everything was moving in slow motion but after that it did fly by. I'm not ready for my babies to be little boys yet. 

Borrowing from a friend who has three boys two months older than ours I am going to document some of the boys' firsts. These are just a few - there were so many - first time they rolled over, first time they sat up, crawled etc. Some of these are still to come for Brett and we know there will still be so many more firsts to come, but wanted to show off some of the fun from their first 365 days.

First Photos   

Each just minutes old these are the first photographs of Brett, Jackson & Peyton (in order above) - our first glimpse at our angels and their first moments out in the world.

First Car Ride

The boys each had to pass a car seat test before they could be sent home. The seats just swallowed them up. We were so afraid they weren't going to let us take them home because they were so tiny. (pictured in order they came home - Peyton, Jackson & Brett). Peyton was the tiniest and the last born, but the first to come home and now the biggest of the bunch. He also has been the first in many things since - first to sit up, crawl, go up the stairs, repeat words - and pretty much try anything Jackson suggests.

Reunited

This is how they always started out in the Pack 'n' Play but soon were all curled up in a little ball. Their preemie clothes were even big. We thought they would sleep like this for months, but they quickly grew out of those tiny clothes and began waking each other kicking and stretching - into their cribs they went!

First Visit to Grandma & Granddad's

They got all dressed up to visit Grandad for Father's Day. They pretty much slept the whole time, but they did open their eyes now and then to take a peek.

First 4th of July

We couldn't get everyone to wake 

up at the same time long enough to take a photo. But they sure got lots of attention during our annual bbq. Aunt Peggy was visiting and along with Grandma did all the night feedings so we could get some much needed sleep - now that's a holiday!

Meeting Great Grammy

(Peyton, Jackson & Brett with 3 generations of women - Grammy, Mommy & Great Grammy)

The weather cooperated and we met Grammy, Auntie Kerry, Auntie Nancy and Uncle Tom and Aunt Pat at the nursing home to celebrate Great Grammy's 98th birthday. The boys made her smile - a gift to all of us!

                                                      

We Love Crocodile Pie!                                    In August we took a nice car ride to Libertyville to celebrate the official re-opening of Crocodile Pie - Auntie Amy & Uncle Jackie's children's book store. We loved it and they've been so generous giving us great books - and we have an amazing collection of autographed books!

Now that we are passed germ season we can't wait to go back. We LOVE to be read to.

Welcome to the Family!

September was extra special. The boys were baptised and officially welcomed into God's family. They love the music at church and they were all so good! We have received so much love and support from our church family and to be before all of them with the boys in the eyes of God and to have all of our family and friends gather around the boys to celebrate is one of my favorite memories.

Three Peas in a Pod!

We had several cute outfits on Halloween. Aunt Gina bought some cute Halloween shirts the boys wore in the morning. Grammy got little pumpkin and mummy outfits we wore in the afternoon and when everyone was gathered we slipped into our costumes and everyone oohed and ahhed! Cousins Caroline and Sophie came over dressed as Peeps and were SO cute. We enjoyed a chili dinner prepared by Uncle Jackie and the boys had a hard time falling asleep - they just wanted to stay up and party (or maybe the aunts snuck them trick-or-treat candy???)

We Give Thanks    

Our first thanksgiving. Everyone felt like they had so much to give thanks for - not the least of which is how cute we are ;) It started out with Brett giving big smiles for a stuffed turkey that gobbles that we got from Auntie Amy & Uncle Jackie - it clearly put him in a great mood! We went to Grandma & Granddad's for dinner and reminisced about the year before when we announced after Thanksgiving dinner we were expecting twins. It wasn't until the following week that we found out two had split into three!

 First Christmas    

We were very curious about Mr. & Mrs. Claus, some beard pulling and some reaching for Mrs. C's glasses. Jackson loved the Christmas tree and we all loved singing Christmas songs. But it was not the Christmas we were expecting. The weekend before Christmas Brett began having seizures and was sent to a children's hospital where he spent days being poked and prodded and scanned - diagnosed with Infantile Spasms and partial agenesis of the corpus callosum (missing a segment of his brain). In addition to it being difficult seeing our little guy in a hospital bed on Christmas - it was also very difficult trying to split our time between home and hospital and keep things somewhat normal for Jackson & Peyton. We celebrated Christmas with the Campbell family Dec. 27 the day after Brett came home and had Christmas with the Paige family on New Years Day. Santa made an extra special trip to our house days after Christmas. Though it was a bit rough, it made us all very grateful for the things we often take for granted such as family and health.

Superbowl Sunday

The boys were in bed before half time, but I think they really got into the spirit of things! They were just getting over the flu so we played it pretty low key and stayed home but we still had a pretty nice spread of snacks!

The Easter Bunny

Since the boys were born premature we were told to take every precaution against their getting RSV - essentially a very bad cold but for them could be much more serious because their lungs were not fully developed. When Brett got sick it became extremely important to keep them well. So we spent the winter mostly in the house - we didn't have much contact with children except our cousins and didn't get to go to crowded, germy places like the store and church. But we ventured to the mall to get our first picture with the Easter Bunny. Still in germ paranoia, I checked out the bunny hours and we had the boys at the mall the second it opened. We whisked them out of the car, through a department store and into the mall just as the bunny was taking her seat. We sat the boys down with Brett on the bunny's lap, Jackson next to her and Peyton on a stool in front of her. While we were trying to get everyone to look at the camera and smile Peyton fell forward off the bench and bonked his head right on the tile floor. It happened so fast I couldn't get to him to stop it. He was a real trooper and didn't even cry (he did however have a big, red goose egg on his head). The lady in charge felt SO bad as I was purchasing the photos she offered Peyton a free stuffed duck - then realized that would do us no good and gave us three free ducks! Peyton was all smiles - pretty proud of his score! No smiles for the bunny picture. I realized in hindsight that they were probably in total shock from being out of the house and in a bright mall and being shoved at a giant bunny. They got to sit by the mall fountain and seemed to really enjoy it there. But then all the germy kids started showing up so I panicked and packed everyone up! That morning Jackson & Peyton had just started with the duck goes quack and the bunny goes hop, hop hop and they played with their new ducks saying quack, quack, quack from the back seat most of the way home!

Six Times the Fun!

That's right six boys in a row! We had our first official playdate (with someone other than our cousins) at the end of April. I have become friends with another triplet mom whose boys were born two months before ours in the same hospital. We have been meeting and taking them for walks since they were all a few months old but it rained this day so me and Jennifer were brave enough to try a play date. It went great! Her adorable boys - Liam, Connor and Aiden - are walking/running and a bundle of smiley energy. I think our boys were a little taken aback by other children playing with their toys but they were cute - each time her boys ran into the kitchen my guys crawled after them. We wanted to get a group shot of them but this was the best we could do. Every time we would go to snap a picture one of mine would crawl away or one of hers would walk away! It's wonderful for the boys to interact and really nice to have a mom who understands my challenges (and is a bit ahead of the curve and can tell me what to expect!) We can't wait to have them over again.