One Year!

Just one year ago...

I cried today (a few times!)... happy tears, thankful tears, sad tears... this year has been so fun and gone by so quickly.  We started our day by waking the babies by singing happy birthday with Aunt Linz and Uncle Mark.  I think they knew then that this would be a crazy day.  As crazy as we knew the day would be, we wanted to begin our day by worshiping our God with our friends this morning at church.  Lilibeth started the day feeling badly, so she stayed home with Aunt Linz.  I love our family at church... we walk in and the babies are taken from us by people who love them.  I got a text this morning requesting Lilibeth before anyone else got to her.  Thank you, friends, for loving our precious children.  The report on Jack this morning was that he sang to God very loudly.  I love it.  I did get to hold West for a while as we sang and worshiped God.  I was so thankful for his life and his health as I kissed his sweet head.  

I have said it before, but I will say it again, because I have been changed by the love of those who have helped us this year...  THANK YOU to our families and our friends (and honestly some people who I did not know well one year ago) who prayed for Lilibeth, West and Jack and stepped right in to help when we brought the babies home.  We had help with meals, help with cleaning and most importantly, loving and caring for our children (there were even those who came for 2 am feedings!).  We could never have given them such a good start on our own.  Without the energy and love of "Team Triplet," these babies would not have been held, talked to, read to and loved like "singletons."  I will always be thankful and commit to serve like "Team Triplet" has served us... wholeheartedly (and with lots of energy)!

Enough of my rambling... I am feeling very sentimental tonight!

Here is our month in pictures:

Lilibeth loves to look out the window

Always moving!

Finger foods are fun!  We eat green beans and...

black beans, cheese, pasta, broccoli, chicken, beef, fruit....but the real crowd pleaser...

PANCAKES!  Our little West can smack a cake!

ohhh... we loved the NICU Reunion at the Childrens' Museum

We saw our nurses and even our very first roommates!

We all looked so big and grown up!

We took our trusty ride... choo-choo!

and tried to take a family pic... when will mama and daddy learn?

I love this... someone (no names mentioned) did not strap West in.  So... he found himself stuck in a hole.

After he was saved, he was quick to let us know that we were neglectful... and that this is unacceptable!

Big kid car seats!

West loves to observe!

I'm a big kid now!

We're wild... we're crazy... we're facing forward!

We can help, Mama!

Moving, moving moving!

WB wants to know why his cousins did not request a table for four?

Sweet pea

So independent

I can do it myself!  West really initiated finger foods for all.  He can do it!

Love.  These.  LEGS!

Jack is walking!

Hey, look at my new A&M blanket!  I LOVE it!  West loves to snuggle up to a soft blanket!

Our first Camp Cousin.  So much fun!  We love all of our cousins!

Just wanted to include something for West to laugh at when he is a teenager.  WHAT are his parents thinking?  So embarrassing!

We took a family trip to Round Top to visit Ben & Papa.

Sweet Lilibeth had her first visit to the ER.  High fever makes a girl feel terrible!

A visit from our sweet school friends.  Thanks to these lovely ladies, each baby has a BEAUTIFUL first year scrapbook.  They knew that if they did not step in, the babies would be scrapbook-less!  Thanks J & J!

Getting ready for the 1st Birthday Party with Ben

Look at me on my ladybug scooter!

Tractors, firetrucks and ladybugs.... go, go, go!

Let them eat cake!

The boys face planted into their smash cakes... Lilibeth is a lady!

Yum-o!

West was not happy with us when cake eating time was over

What a great celebration of the best (and fastest!) year of our lives.  Thank you, God for bringing Lilibeth, Jack and West into our home and into our lives. 

Eleven months

... mama is sad about wrapping up year one!

So,  I did the best I could to document this month with 11,000 pictures.  I came up a little shy of my goal of 11,000 pics, but if you make it to the end of this post you will see that I gave it my best shot in between making bottles, changing diapers and laughing with these three!

West loves books so much that I found him sitting in a tray full of them. 

Jack cannot wait to walk!

West is planning something... look at those eyes!

The more mobile they get, the "skinnier" they get!  I had to get a pic of these legs while there was still time!  Lilibeth loves to look out the window by the door... just her size!

Lili B. and her friend E sharing a book

Our first visit to a school... we went to Fancy's library to meet all of her friends!  We loved it.  I tried to register the babies for Pre-K, but they turned me away!  Just kidding... I'll be that crying mom that the principal has to personally escort out of the school on the first day of Kinder.

We all want to sit with Ben... from the look on Jack's face you can tell he meant BY HIMSELF!

Umm... did we miss the day where we voted on what we would be for Halloween?

This was the happy time before I started bathing the babies.  When I have to bathe by myself (fortunately a rare occurrence), I put the babies in the cribs in a diaper both before and after the bath to keep them safe while I bathe and dress their siblings.  There are always tears.  Poor little things... I think that they think I have lost my mind and intend to put them to bed for the night naked and without supper!

I love this pic of Jack at his evaluation appointment for the helmet.  They put this silly sock on his head and did his final scan.  The results... as of TODAY the helmets are OFF for both boys!  Oh, the things these boys went through for those dang helmets!

Can you tell who just walked in?  Happy babies!

Our sweet baby cousin, M!  We can't wait to play with this guy!

All the Warners in the Trip Trap... Funny story... I had an errand to run and I asked everyone to eat without me.  I come home to the adult Warner fam (K, his parents, Kelly, Klayton & Cousin M) all around the Trip-Trap.  I asked why they didn't eat in the dining room.  Why would they when they could eat around the Trip-Trap?

Into E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!

The train... we think it is the perfect piece in any room of our house!  I say "choo-choo" and three babies make their way to "the station" (a.k.a. the train's parking place in the dining room).

Jack and Lilibeth thought it was hilarious to interact with Daddy through the window.  I tell you, whatever this guy does is brilliant, amazing or hilarious according to these children.  I don't often disagree with them... he's pretty great!

"How are the burgers coming, Dad?"

The story of my life... I really like this chapter!

It's the ordinary things that make us really happy

Do it, West!  Do it!  It's so fun!

More fun... They are constantly reaching for new and exciting things.  This is Jack's new look that we love... we think it has two meanings depending on the situation: 1) How cute am I? 2) How much fun is this?

What... this train can go outdoors???  Why weren't we informed earlier?

Lili B. loves a train and a book... a winning combination!

Howdy, ma'am.

 "What is this?" you ask.  This, my friends, is my first call to poison control.  I determined that we needed a refill in the paper towel department.  I exit the kitchen and look at all three children playing happily near the edge of the rug.  I walk into the laundry room, gather a roll of PT and walk past the tiny baby children one of whom has a SNAKE IN HIS MOUTH.  I was not sure that it was a snake at first, thought it was a very small twig.  Upon further investigation it was a very dehydrated baby snake who was now missing a body part... his head!  West was furious with me for stealing his new toy.  Poison control says, "watch him".  Ummm... watch him do what?  Doctor says, "Watch him."  We did... we watched our baby boy try to eat a snake.  According to Fancy, there was no need to be worried as it was a Garter snake... not poisonous.  Call me crazy, I'd prefer that our diet not include reptiles... at all.  Ever.

Look at his little smirk... "Thanks for plating it Mama.  Snake is a delicacy in these here parts."

Lilibeth would much prefer to play with pretty toys.

But not this cowboy!

Love a boy with boots, a bottle and a bib!

This girl is exploring... she is so independent!

Packaging paper from diaper delivery... I knew when I unpacked those diapers that I was looking at a good 20 minutes of happy playtime.  BONUS!

And don't forget the box the diapers came in... we saved that wild fun for the next day!

Things we LOVE about Lilibeth:
With absolutely no prompting from us, Lilibeth has started to dance!  She moves her shoulders and upper body when she hears a song that she likes.  I cannot make her do it, she just has to catch her groove!  I LOVE it!  Lilibeth loves to get in her car seat and GO!  She is happy to be out and about.  Yesterday, Fancy & I put her in her pumpkin dress and fabulous bow and went to a pumpkin party in town!  The boys stayed with Daddy, and Lilibeth was thrilled about that.  She looks so pretty in a bow, but the boys will not let her wear one for 30 seconds... it goes directly into their mouths!  I told her the other day how excited I am about all of the fun things we will get to do together!

Things we LOVE about West:
He has an eye for adventure!  He was such a trooper about the helmet.  He is finally out and looks fabulous!  He loves to throw a late night party in his crib.  When Klint & I go in to look at the babies before we go to bed, someone usually wakes up.  If all three wake up.... party time!  We throw them all in one crib (usually West's since he is a great host) and we all LOVE it!  West and Lilibeth laugh, laugh, laugh and Jack provides the entertainment for us.  West loves a Baby Mum-Mum and gets super excited when I get them out.  This makes me really happy because eating is not really West's favorite pastime.  He likes to move it, move it!

Things we LOVE about Jack:
... He "shakes" the bars of the crib like he is a wild man.  He knows this makes us laugh and he loves it.  One day on a train ride, as he rolled through the family room he would make a different face every time to make Fancy and I laugh.  When his teacher calls about his class clown antics, I will say that they began very early on (and then I will say that his father and I will take care of business... because that is the ONLY thing a teacher wants to hear :)  We love the new grin!  Jack is such an affectionate and enthusiastic baby. 

We are counting down to the big birthday... and I am thinking about this time last year.  I'm so thankful NOT to be on bed rest!  I am also thankful that a year ago today, God was preparing these three so well for their early birth.  We are so very blessed.