Dr. Seuss 1st Birthday Extravaganza

We decided to do a Dr. Seuss theme for the babies' 1st birthday.  I thought it was a cute idea and figured they won't be letting me choose the theme for long, so I should get it in while I still can.

We had perfect weather and they day was super busy and fun.  We decided to keep it small and only invite about 60 people.  I think about 40ish showed up.  There were tons of cousins and kids and craziness all around. 

I had their outfits custom made by Stephanie Kessler, a triplet mom in Chicago.  You can look her up on Facebook under Perfectly Imperfect Creations. 

For the food, I decided to keep with the theme and almost everything was related to Dr. Seuss in some way.  It's been months of research, but I think I pulled it off.

Decorations were easy. We used Eli's Dr. Seuss books.  I had tons of bulletin board stuff from school.  I added some new stuff to my collection too.  I made a banner on VistaPrint to hang above them while they ate their cupcakes.  I also made a big birthday banner and name banners for the table.  I also made the tissue paper puffs and hung punch balls up (no balloons for a change).

I really wanted to order these super cute birthday crowns on Etsy, but at $20/each, it wasn't going to happen.  Instead, I made them party hats with the fabric I used for table cloths and a million other things.

The Thing 1, 2, 3 onesies were ordered off Stuff4Multiples.com.  My friend, Sarah, make the red velvet cupcakes for the Thing 1, 2, and 3.  We just added the blue cotton candy hair and the labels.  She made mini ones for the guests as well.



At the last minute, I decided to make Oobleck...Yikes!!!  At least the kids liked it.

We had a table set up with the donation bucket for the March of Dimes and Project Sweet Peas.  Also on the table were a candy guess jar, a Dr. Seuss Qui-via, and the favors.

We got so many monetary donations and small items for the Project Sweet Peas bags.  We're so grateful to all that came and made donations.  It was a whirlwind of a day and I hope the boys enjoyed themselves!!! 

12 month stats...aka 1 year stats

We had the boys' 12 month [ahem...1 year] appointment today.  I really just wanted to hear the magic words...''You can take the babies off formula.''  I was also excited to see their heights and weights and to find out if their congestion of late was a problem.

Ben's Stats
Height  29 1/4 inches
Percentile  25th
Weight  20.6 lbs
Percentile  40th

Nate's Stats

Height 28 inches

Percentile 5th
Weight 18.2 lbs
Percentile 10th

Sam's Stats

Height  28 3/4 inches
Percentile 15th
Weight 20.2 lbs
Percentile 30th

So...this means that Ben has taken over as holding the title of the biggest baby.  Poor Sammy, moved down to 2nd place.  Nate continues to hold the title of the littlest monkey.  We think Nate is the smallest because he sits between the 2 big guys when he eats and they steal all the food off his tray...or maybe he gives it to them...we've seen both.

As for the formula, yes, we can move to whole milk.  I'm estimating here, but that will save us about 1,000,000 dollars/week in food costs.

Now for the next big purchase...the big boy car seats.  'Yikes' puts it mildly.  There are very few seats you can buy that will fit 3 across the back row of a van.  The one we need is about 280 dollars.  That's for 1...we need 3...you do the math...

At least we'll be saving money on formula...

Project Sweet Peas

Just one short year ago, I began my ride on what many call the "NICU roller coaster".  On one of my first visits to the NICU at MGH, I received 3 gift bags from Project Sweet Peas.

It was filled with many items that were very useful or touching to me as a mom in the NICU, some of which I still use to this day.  As part of the boys' b-day invitations, I requested no gifts for their party.  Instead, I'm asked for monetary donations for Project Sweet Peas and the March of Dimes. 

Because I'm getting all sappy and emotional about the boys' growth and development, I emailed the project director for New England and mentioned I'd be happy to hold a drive to accumulate items for their gift bags.  If you're reading this and you live nearby or know me IRL (In Real Life), here's the list of what they need:

Blankets
Disposable Cameras

Picture Frames

Stuffed Animals

Birth Record Pillows

Baby Brush/Comb sets

Baby Caps

Baby Booties

Baby Mittens

Baby Eye Masks

Children's Books

Hand/Foot Molds

Tissue Packs

Journals / Notebooks

Pens

Puzzle Books

Baby Lotion

Baby Shampoo

Lip Balm

Hand Sanitizer

Gift Cards

(Gas, food, VISA, etc..)

Travel Size Toiletries

(Deodorant, Shampoo, Conditioner, Toothbrush, Toothpaste)

Shaving Kits

Photo Boxes (for Memory Boxes)

Holiday Themed Items

Decorations for Isolettes

(Mobiles, Name Plaques, etc...)

All items must be new (or newly made).  If you'd like to pick something up and donate it, please let me know and we can set up a time to meet so I can gather things together.  I'd like to get everything together and ship it out to them by October 13th so we have a solid month.  

These items may seem inconsequential to those of you who never had this experience, but it means a lot to the moms and dads whose babies are hospitalized.  

Big Big Big Birthday

It's official...the boys are 1 today!  Holy Smokes!  It was a crazy year...so overwhelmed with emotions.  I don't know which way to go in this post today...

We'll start with milestones...
Benji Bear aka the Barnacle aka Barney
-Standing up holding on
-"talking" like crazy
-loves finger foods
-crawling like he's getting paid for it
-loves his binkie and his bottle
-favorite toy is anything that makes noise or vibrates
-claps (the best of the 3)
-waves bye bye

Natey Bug aka my Snuggle Bug aka Natey BooBoo
-standing up holding on
-"yells" at phones when holding them
-loves graham crackers & animal crackers
-can crawl like his bum is on fire
-loves his doggie(s) and his brother's monkey
-best dimples ever
-begining to clap and wave (does the "royal" wave)
-shakes his head ''no''...not sure if he means it or not
-loves cords, lamps, and remote controls

Sammy Lamb aka the Bulldozer aka Silly Sam aka Serious Sam
-will crawl over anything in his path to get where he wants to go (even his brothers)
-often wakes us up in the morning while shouting "DADADADADADADA"
-standing up holding on and now letting go for longer periods
-cruises along furniture and transitions from one object to another (fence to wall to couch)
-begining to clap and wave
-goofy grin with bottom teeth
-loves the rolly turtle and his froggy
-has won major wrestling bouts in the octagon
-loves to ''dance'' when we sing

We started the day off with presents in our PJ's.

Then posed for a picture before mommy, daddy, and Eli had to leave.

 

Then more singing along with some cake.

BEFORE

AFTER

We hope that's just cake floating in the tub...

Who knew???

A year ago today, I went to bed being a mommy of 1...who knew the very next day that I'd be a mommy of 4???  I still can't believe it and get all weepy just thinking about it.  I don't know how I'm going to hold it all together tomorrow.  The quickest (& slowest at the same time) and craziest year ever...

Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...How about you, you, you?

Gotta love a little Raffi song every now and then...

We try to go to the zoo every year.  This year, we were all excited because my triplet mom group had an outing planned to the zoo.  We decided to go with them but then Hurricane Irene came and the outing was cancelled, soooo...we went to the zoo by ourselves this weekend.

One thing that was exciting for me was that the babies were free because they're not 1 yet.  I'll milk it as long as I can.  We decided to go to York's Wild Animal Kingdom because it's relatively close and it's pretty small.  We didn't want to be gone all day. 

We got there before they were even open and got a great parking spot.  Then we loaded the babies up in the choo choo wagon and headed in for some animal fun.

The first stop was the butterfly house.  I'm not sure the babies even cared about the butterflies, but Eli loved the baby alligators.  For some reason, he kept asking if we were going to see alligators.  I'm not sure where this new obsession came from.

Then we saw some ducks.  Eli loved feeding them and the babies were cracking up looking at them.  If all they need is ducks for a fun time, we'll just bring them down the road to the river for free and a much shorter drive!

Then we went over to see a million other animals.  Once we got to the elephant, Eli was pretty fried and refused to take a picture.  Someday, he'll look back and realize he was being a pest.


I forgot to mention the best part of the zoo...the sketchy, but effectively awesome, baby changing station.  I loved it so much, I had to take a picture.

It was amazing.  A little stall with a changing table with a trash can and a sink nearby.  It was perfect for us.  They must have put it there just for us.  The only problem was the little alley it was located in was really narrow and it was tough to turn around the wagon...maybe next time they'll widen the alley for us...

We didn't really get too much unwanted "triplet attention" the whole time we were there.  The best story was on the way home, we decided to stop at Denny's for dinner (I know, I know...why Denny's?).  As we were packing up to leave after having been there for what seemed like hours because the wait staff apparently doesn't know that when you're carting around 3 infants, you're in a rush, 2 different tables of ladies asked us the exact same question...(gotta love a run-on sentence)
"Are those triplets?"
The best part was, the tables were sitting right next to each other!!! Why couldn't they eavesdrop like any normal person?  And why did they wait until we were trying to leave?  One lady was pretty insistant that I answer her questions and she kept getting louder...

Umm...do you see me trying to unbuckle and lift out and pass a child to my husband who is currently holding another child?  Do you see me trying to throw everything into my bag, and pick up toast off the floor, and wipe down a baby, and tell a 5 year old to finish his milk, and pay the bill, and try to stuff the last 4 french fries into my mouth?  Why is now a good time to ask these questions?  We've been here for 45 minutes, you couldn't as then???

Honestly people...

But the zoo was fun.  I'm not sure how much the babies appreciated it, but I think Eli did.

Flashback

Because the boys are creeping up on their big b-day (gasp!), we decided to go visit the Special Care Nursery that they called home for the first 5+ weeks they were born.  We also wanted to thank all the nurses for their time and dedication to our little monkeys since we rushed out of there like our pants were on fire when they finally got discharged.

Then...
all squeezed in on the green chair

Now...
all squeezed in on the green chair
btw...GO BLUE

Then...
All lined up and ready to go home.

Now...
You can actually see babies in the car seats