Christmas is coming and so is our one year birthday!

Well, I have officially been neglecting the blog, as it has been nearly two months since my last post, wow, it sounds like I am in confession. Anyway, the girls are growing like crazy and doing new things. We are still a little behind in the word department, Evy and Viv say hi, and Lia babbles a ton, sometimes we here mama and more often dada, but I don't think they are specifically speaking to us.

Lia is walking which is really exciting to see, she is still pretty tiny compared to her sisters at not quite 17 pounds, but I suppose that her small frame make it easier to move around. She pretty much will walk unprompted all over, but still crawls if she wants to get somewhere fast, although she crawls less and less as the days go on. Lia is also sporting a couple of brand new front teeth and she loves clapping when she is excited. She has made some changes recently as she was much more passive even a couple of weeks ago and now she lets us know when she doesn't get her way.

Viv is just starting to take steps, mostly prompted. She and Evy are both over 20 pounds and are about 2" taller than Lia. Viv waves when she communicates with people and it is so adorable. Vivy is our little love bug, she loves to cuddle. She was the first to get a tooth well over a month ago and now she has two lower and we just noticed one of her upper teeth coming in.

Evy has been taking steps and is getting more comfortable with walking every day. She is our little drama queen, but she also loves to sit and turn the cardboard pages of her books all by herself. Evy has two lower teeth too, but they came in 3-4 weeks after Viv, which seem unusual for identical twins.

So that's the brief synopsis of updates with the Rattray triplets. Graeme and I are hanging in there too, things are crazy with the Christmas season and also with our basement finishing project. Graeme and my brother Jeremy did all the framing and we are getting ready for insulation and drywall. It will be nice to have another place for the girls to play and I can't wait for a non-icky basement laundry area.

I am posting a few of the Christmas pics my Mom took, take care everyone and Happy Holidays!

Viv
Lia
Evy

Little Elf

Ghost of Christmas Past

Nearly 10 months and things are going so fast!

I can't believe the girls are nearly ten months. I know I say that at the beginning of every blog entry lately, but it is true things go by so quickly. I am posting some photos from a few weeks ago and since then the girls are even more mobile. They are really standing sometimes with little to no assistance. I just went to NYC with some friends this past weekend, and I feel like so much changed in three days. The girls are so social, talking to each other, stealing each other's pacies, etc. They get really excited and bang their hands on everything. Even the poor dog. I just caught Viv tonight, pulling herself up to standing by holding on to the dogs fur. I will have to post a picture of Cassius and the girls. He really is good with them and they scream with excitement whenever he is around.


They are also eating everything in sight. I was making all of their baby food into a puree, but they no longer need or like that. The prefer veggie burgers and cheese! It is really fun having them try new foods. I try to keep it as healthy as possible, but I must say they love their chicken hotdogs and mac and cheese. They really are eating more and more and truth be told, I cannot wait for the day that we stop formula and bottles, I think I will throw a party!





Daddy and Evy take a nap (yes Evy is wearing the cutest Packer outfit!)



Viv and Lia playing with their bath towels.




Cousins are here, let's eat the playmat!




What can I say, things are good!

Nine Months!

So, I usually think of nine months as how long one is pregnant. I didn't quite make it that far, but I can't believe these girls have been with us as long as most babies are in utero. It seems like the last 9 months have just flown by. What is more amazing are the ways in which they change and develop so quickly. They are starting to mimic us and make sounds which we interpret as words. They play together with their toys and laugh at each other when they have avocado all over their faces. They are starting to stand independently and crawl everywhere. They love to explore! I must say, I am exceedingly proud of their eating skills. They love to feed themselves pieces of cheeses (they are their father's daughters after all), fruit, veggie burgers; squeal with delight when their puffs and oatmeal cookies come out of the pantry.

We went to their nine month well-check and their overall development is between 9 months and 12 months. Evy and Viv are average size for their age at 18lb 13oz and 18lb 5oz respectively and Lia is still small, 15lb 5oz. I thank God we have been so lucky that not only do these babies have no health problem as a result of their early delivery, but they are already caught up with their actual age in their development.

Things are certainly good at the Rattray house, busy, crazy, loud, nonstop, but all good!

PICTURES!!!

Ok, I am just going to throw on to the screen a bunch of photos from the past couple of months. They are in reverse chronological order, but basically shows what we have been up to for most of the summer, play, bath, bed!


Grandma and Grandpa came over to visit.

Nobody wants to go to bed.

Everyone loves their bath and loves to eat their washcloths too.

Lots of fun and Grandpa's house.

8 Months!

Today the girls are eight months. I can't believe we have come this far, the months seem to fly by, that is not to say each day flies by (ha ha!). Today also was the first day that Lia pulled up on to their little piano. She loves standing and even walks around the toys when she is standing. She is very determined and even though she is physically smaller than Evy and Viv she is very determined. She is also crawling a little bit, it is sort of a combination of crawl, roll and scoot. She gets where she wants to go though. Evy is getting to be the quintessential first born, she like to call the shots and is the most vocal. Viv, is such a sweetheart and is loving to explore. Evy and Viv need to be gated because they are heading to the door or stairs, or whatever is most dangerous at any given moment. They are crawling pretty fast and want to crawl on everything. I really need to organize their photos and get some more, I am afraid two parents working full-time with three babies isn't conducive to a lot of organization in the photo department, but if I am honest with myself I think even if I was home it really wouldn't be that much different. Maybe if I didn't work and we still had Bel it would be a different story!

Seven Months!

Well, my plans of posting at least once a month, and often twice a month have been largely unfulfilled. It is again over a month since my last post. Although it is difficult to find the time, I really have to say I have no real excuse. That being said, the girls are just doing fantastic! Viv started crawling last week and Evy has just now started. Lia, isn't quite there, she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks, but physically she is smaller and she is a little more timid. She will get there soon enough though. The girls personalities are really starting to come out. Viv is incredibly curious and in to everything, she is go, go, go. Evy loves to scream when she is happy and talk about everything. Lia is more quiet, she talks in a sing-song voice and I feel like she is going to be the creative-introspective one. They are changing so fast and developmentally are at their actual age or older, which is wonderful. Basically they were already caught up at six months when we took them back to Theda for their developmental check-up. Some of the things they tested on, like thinking, they were at 8+ months, so needless to say we are pretty proud. I really have to give a lot of credit to our nanny Bel, she really works with them a lot on their development and has been doing a wonderful job. Thanks Bel!!! Size-wise, Evy and Viv are caught up as well, as they are in the 40-60th percentile. Lia is the tiny one she is more around the 4-10th percentile. Not bad for being born eight weeks early though.

We have been taking some small trips with the girls which have been great. A few weeks ago, we all stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa Rattray's, so that Graeme and I could go out and have some fun. We have been to Milwaukee to see my mom and step-dad a couple of times and are going again this week. Two weeks ago, the girls went to their first birthday party at my dad and step-mom's house, their cousin Fonde turned one. We are lucky that at this point they are good travelers. They sleep well in their pack-n-plays and enjoy the changes of scenary. This past weekend we went to Elkhart Lake with the girls and they had their first beach experience. They liked the sand, but Evy was a little afraid of the water, Viv got a little afraid too, but Lia sat right in the sand and water and loved it. A weekend away is definitely a lot of work with these three, but to see them experience different things for the first time is amazing.

They are also really getting into their baby food. I am trying to make the majority of the baby food by buying organic and farmer's market veggies and pureeing and freezing the food. It doesn't take too much time and they really love their vegetables. Avocado is one of their favorites, along with zuchini and peas.

All in all, life with triplets is pretty amazing. It is a ton of work, but so worth it.

Father's Day at the Paper Valley with

Grandma and Grandpa Rattray and Auntie Erica

First high chair experience

Where is the time going?

Well, I guess it has been over a month and a half since I last posted and so much is happening. The girls are growing, growing, growing. Eating solid food, although I think that is such a funny name for the runny gruel we are feeding them. They are all such little individuals right now and love to talk and sometimes scream at us. Lia is our little roller, we have to be careful because she will roll off the blanket on to the hard floor. She would love to be able to crawl or scoot, but she doesn't realize that by lifting her arms and legs into lotus position isn't going to get her there anytime soon. Viv is scooting short distances to get toys and she is probably the best eater. Evy is our biggest talker, she can tell you a story that lasts an hour. They are all getting close to sitting up and love their excersaucers and all of their toys. They are the sweetest, cuddliest girls, but there is no doubt they are Graeme's and my children as they have no problem letting you know when they are not happy! Here are a bunch of new photos (ignore the spit-up stains on the furniture and the absolute chaos, I know we do (:

Four Months Already?

I can't believe it, the girls are four months old already and are close to catching up to what full-term four month olds are doing. They are babbling a ton and are interactive with us all the time, it is so amazing to see them turn from tiny little babies who just eat and sleep. The best is that they are laughing out loud. Graeme is the best at getting them to laugh, that must be a daddy thing. We had our four month checkup with the pediatrician and she has given the green light on solid foods. We haven't tried it yet, but will in the next few weeks. In the last week we had our first bout with illness, Lia had a little cold, it was so difficult to see her so uncomfortable. I just wish babies knew how to blow their little noses.

One more super exciting thing that happened recently was that my grandparents got to meet the girls. In fact, my grandmother, my mom, the girls and I all went on a walk together, four generations out and about, it was fantastic. Here is a picture of my grandparents, Doris and Gene Mann with the girls.


One other recent event is that I went back to work on Friday, May 1st. As much as I miss the girls during the day-which I do every minute-I really enjoy getting back into my legal practice. I really love my job, so going back is definitely the right thing for me. Of course, what makes it easier is that we have opted to hire a nanny. Our nanny's name is Bel and she has been doing a fantastic job, we are so happy to have her. All I can say at this time is that life is really good and we are enjoying every moment of our new family.

Things are moving along beautifully. All of the girls are talking and interacting with us and really are pretty easy babies. One week after Viv and two weeks after Lia, Evy turned over, which was really exciting for us. They can all pull themselves up on their forearms and look around. They even move their legs acting as if they want to start crawling. Of course we have not baby-proofed the house and therefore, I hope we have a couple of months before they are mobile.

We have been continuing to go on long walks which saves Mommy from going insane being in the house all day. This will soon come to an end though as I am going back to work on the first of May. We have a wondeful nanny starting at the end of April. Her name is Bel and she is wonderful with babies. Although I am looking forward to getting back to the lawyer game, I know it will really be hard to leave these little ones.

I have posted some pictures of last weekend with Mimi and Grandpa Don.

Oh my! I can't believe it has been a month since my last post. So much has happened in that time, the girls are of course a ton bigger and are now playing and cooing. Lia turned over a week ago last Saturday and Viv did this past Saturday. We are still waiting on Evy, but she is the biggest so it may take her a little longer. Just about two weeks ago they seemed to be focusing more and now they really look at us and their toys. The girls are still quite a handful at night and I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to tweak their schedule to give us a little more sleep, most of the time it is unsuccessful. They are beautiful though and super healthy which is wonderful. We also went for our first stroller ride a couple of weeks ago, and although the girls are mostly asleep during the ride, I secretly think they love it. I just can't wait for the weather to get better so we can go every day.

Here are some recent photos:

It has been some time since I last posted. The past 5 weeks have gone by so quickily. Lia and Evy came home from the hospital after 28 days in the NICU and then Viv came home 10 days later. Since they have been home it has been amazing to see them grow. They came home at around five pounds and now Evy and Viv are over 8 pounds and Lia is a little under.

They are also just this week, starting to focus on our faces and they continue to strengthen their necks and keeping their heads up. Of course, the sleepless nights and 3 hour feeding schedules are difficult to swallow, but that is what makes memories and besides, I think the whole thing will be a blur in less than a year. In fact, the girls are each such good babies, it is just when you have three of them taking turns being up at night, we just don't get that much sleep. Luckily our parents have been so helpful taking early morning feedings and there is an amazing group of women organized as "Team Triplet" who come over during the day and give me some relief and help feed these girls. I simply don't know what we would do without all of this help.