One year ago today...

Today is a very special Father's Day for me. It's also the first birthday of our triplets, Kaelynn Blake and Brian. I know it's cliche to say such things, but wow... What a year. Time has slowed to a crawl, seeming to run backwards sometimes (especially when someone is fussy at night), other times the time had flown by at incredible speeds.

Blake's been walking more than crawling for the last few weeks. Kaelynn has taken a few tentative steps here and there, and Brian took his first steps today, on his first birthday. (The video is of Blake from a few weeks ago when he was just getting comfortable with this whole walking thing.)

Tarynn's new job is wonderful, but it also means a lot of travel for her. It's going to be tough on all of us, but we'll manage. She just had her first full week out of town this past week. Given time, we'll all fall into a rhythm and help each other out to make sure everything is taken care of. (Related to that, once again HUGE thanks to both my dad and Tarynn's mom for the invaluable help they're both giving us. THANK YA'LL!!!)

Today being a milestone date, we got the camera out and posed (Or tried to pose, as much as you can get a one year old to do anything without tying them down) them with the stuffed animals we'd put them next to in previous updates for an update on their growth.

Kaelynn and her Cow stuffie, one year

 

Kaelynn and her Llama Stuffie, One Year

 

Brian and his Frog Stuffie, One Year

 

Brian and his Llama stuffie, One Year

  

Blake and his Horse Stuffie, One Year

   

Blake and his Llama Stuffie, One Year

 

Before going to dinner today, we thought it's be fun to let them open one birthday present, even though their official birthday party will be next weekend.

Then we had a combination Father's Day/Unofficial Birthday Party family to Babe's Chicken House. They evidently only had 2 birthday chicken hats, so Blake got to wear one,

While Brian wore the other birthday chicken hat,

 And Kaelynn had to get by with just a generic colorful birthday hat.

This dinner out was also the first time we put them in high chairs instead of just their car seats, and the first time we let them have some table food. The green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, pot roast and chicken were all MAJOR hits with everyone!

In preparation for today's date, Tarla had procured some mini cupcakes. After dinner, we  let them each have a cupcake. Their first sweets ever. Their reactions were quite interesting.

Kaelynn was very dainty about it.

 

But definitely approved!

Brian. Well... Brian has a bit of a sweet tooth.

 

Thank you! Can I have another???

  

Blake definitely enjoyed his too!

 

 

Ahhh, how cute! His first sugar high! 

Spring has sprung!

It's officially spring in Texas when the Bluebonnets have sprung, and they have! And, when they have it's state law you find a nice patch of them, bring any kids you have and plop them down in the bluebonnets and take pictures. Being patriotic Texans, we of course did so today!

We went at about the absolute worst time for photography (The sun was almost directly overhead, so bad shadows) but I did the best I could with the lighting I had.

Blake

Brian

Brian

Kaelynn

Brian, Kaelynn & Blake

Brian, Kaelynn & Blake

Big sister Kali

Blake, Kaelynn & Brian

Yesterday we visited with our friends The Gilchrists, and The Meltons. I think Megan is starting to realize Blake had developed a mind control ray and is using it on her!

We also recreated a classic picture today, just for the fun of it. It really shows how much they've grown!

This picture was taken July 19th, 2011:

And this one was taken March 25th, 2012:

Nine Months have passed since the birth!

The triplets are now nine months old. Wow... Three quarters of a year have passed since they entered our lives. It feels like they've always been here, and yes, they're growing incredibly fast!

All three are now mobile to varying degrees, holding their bottles when they drink, and eating stage 2 baby foods quite well. All three have started practicing making sounds as well.

Tarynn's dad David came for a visit in early January and got to spend some time with the triplets and Kali.

A while back we finally put those stickers on the back of the minivan for the members of the family. Wow. Kinda scary looking when it's put like that!

The whole family went to the North Texas Irish Festival as well, along with the triplets good friend Megan Gilchrist. She, with the triplets help, charmed the stage manager of the children's stage (Who is also an author, and a recording artist!) Rickey Pittman into posing for a picture with them, and gave Megan a free copy of one of his children's books! (Megan promptly donated it to the Ecton Child Library, thanks Megan!)

Kaelynn and Blake both cut their first teeth around 7-8 months old. Kaelynn likes to show her teeth off!

Blake is the first to figure out how to pull himself to a standing position in his crib. However, he hasn't quite figured out how to get back down without just falling, so sometimes gets quite upset when he's been standing there for a while.

My old friends Kevin and Katy Crumpton of Just Have Fun Photography came over last weekend to do a nine month photo shoot of the kids. Here are some samples from that. (Disclaimer - These are the raw, unedited photos, not cropped, color corrected, etc!)

Somehow out of the pandemonium of this:

They were able to distill some shots like these:

Blake, Kaelynn, Brian 

Kaelynn & Kali

Brian

Blake

Kaelynn

Kaelynn, Brian & Blake

Brian & Blake

Blake

Kaelynn

Brian

Blake

Thirty Toes! (Brian, Kaelynn & Blake)

And with big sister Kali, FORTY toes!

Big sister Kali is growing up WAY too fast!

Don't let the halo fool you, it's being held up by horns! ;)

Brian Kaelynn & Blake

Kaelynn grinning

Kaelynn just being cute

Brian has officially worn a tie more than his daddy has in the last five years now!

Another of Brian dressed for success

Blake too!

Blake had people to see and places to go and wanted to get moving!

Thanks again to Kevin and Katy for the photo shoot, they came out beautifully! Also, we have to continue to thank everyone that's helped us in this journey, Megan & Betsy Gilchrist for always being willing to come keep them company (And even change an icky diaper!), my mom Jean for helping out when she's able to, my dad Roger for coming over and helping every single work day, and most of all my mother in law Tarla who gives of herself endlessly. I don't know how we'd make it without all of ya'll's (And countless other unnamed people!) help! 

...and the adventure continues...