My Little Models

Of course, I'm the mommy so I'm biased...but honestly, does it get any cuter than this?!? I just can't believe my little tiny babies are now 1! The ladies at the studio taking their pics were absolutely fascinated with the choo choo wagon. It's probably one of the best investments we've made!

Just a trim, please

This week we decided to finally do something we've been putting off. We took Luke and Sarah to get haircuts. Sarah had her bangs trimmed once before, but she got an all over trim this time. Luke got his very first cut and now has the certificate to prove it! Jake isn't quite ready for a cut so he just observed. Everyone behaved so well. The hairdresser commented several times how good they were. I was one proud momma!

Luke being so patient

The finished product

Sarah happy with her cut

Jake just watching

Luke is so happy with his cut!

Catching Up

This week has been a week to "catch up" with things. Because of the snow storm and then the violent sickness that plagued our house, we're a little behind. So this week we've tackled the piles of laundry, the dishes, the vacuuming, and more. And in the spirit of catching everything up, I thought it fitting to catch everyone up on the kids "one year" stats. We actually went to the doc on January 7th so these stats are a few weeks old, but I think everyone will give us some slack! lol

Overall, Dr. Roberts was very pleased with the triplets' statuses. The children are right on track with others their age. That was a relief to hear, because I feel like they aren't standing, cruising, and walking like other children. Another thing that eased my fears (outside of the pediatrician visit) is seeing a friend of ours whose child is 13.5 months old. She is not walking yet either and she was a singleton born full term. The doctor told us the age range for children to walk is so varied. They can really start anytime between 9 and 18 months of age. I sure hope I'm not still carrying my little giants around at 18 months! The doctor was pleased that they are babbling a lot and even saying words like "mama", "dada", "hi" and "bye". They all wave and all clap (with a little help to get them started). And their food eating ability has increased remarkably. They can now eat little pieces of meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables (when they want to), cookies, cheerios, puffs, and more. The main thing for us to work on is transitioning them from a bottle to a sippy cup. That's gonna be the hard one. They sure love their bottles! The best news of all is that we can finally phase out formula and start the kids on whole milk. Formula is roughly $16 per gallon. Milk is like $2 per gallon. It's like getting a pay raise! The doctor also wants us to start brushing their teeth. Yes, all 3 have "teeth" now, not just "tooth" anymore. Sarah has 2 lower teeth and 1 upper tooth. Jake still has just 2 lower teeth. Luke has 1 upper tooth and 1 lower tooth. They proudly showed them off to the doc! Here are their height/weight stats:

Sarah: 28.5 inches long (32nd percentile) and 21lbs 11ozs (60th percentile)

Jacob: 29.5 inches long (42nd percentile) and 23lbs 6ozs (60th percentile)

Lucas: 29.5 inches long (42nd percentile) and 21lbs 13ozs (35th percentile)

Well, now we're all caught up. Here are the official 12 month photos we took of the triplets. we'll probably keep doing the monthly photo for another 6 months. It has been fun to see how they change month to month. We hope you've enjoyed it too!

Blizzard of 2011, Cabin Fever, & a Stomach Bug

Ugggg...what a week!

Ok, I'll admit it. Last weekend, when I heard there was snow on the way, I got a little excited. I constantly checked and re-checked the forecast to make sure the white stuff was really headed our way. And yes it did deliver as promised (or more). But now, on the 6th day of this adventure, I just want all the snow and ice to go away! The city has been absolutely paralyzed by one of the worst winter weather disasters I can remember. In the 8 1/2 years I've been at my job, we have never been closed due to inclement weather. In fact, I think this is the worst it's been since the blizzard of '93. The worst part is that it won't leave! In Georgia, we're used to a few flurries and some ice. Everyone rushes out to build a snowman and then before we know it the snow is gone. But the temps the last few days have barely been in the 30's so we're just not seeing a lot of "quality melting" or so says the weatherman on channel 2.

After a few days of being snowed in, I just had to get out of the house. So I braved the ice and went to pick up sushi at the place near our house. Kurt and I had a delicious lunch. Later that evening, Kurt started to complain that his stomach hurt. I didn't think much of it until Kurt started puking his guts out! At first, I thought he'd gotten some bad sushi. Then Sarah started throwing up. Suddenly I knew what was happening...the evil stomach virus had invaded our house. So the next 24 hours were spent caring for Kurt, Sarah, Luke, and Jake who all had the stomach bug. I felt some effects of it but not enough to keep me down. One solid nap (and a few hundred trips to the bathroom) and I was ready to go. Super Mom! lol

Today is Friday and things are again calm in the Koenig house (we think). We're praying for a nice quiet weekend as we sanitize and disinfect every square inch of our house. I have taken the liberty of packing the bags of our unwelcome houseguests "blizzard" and "stomach virus" and will be showing them the door. Hit the road Jack!

Birthday Party Palooza

Saturday was the big day! One of the days I had dreams about when the babies were just the size of kidney beans and swimming around in my belly. We celebrated their very first birthday! Mod monkey was our theme. A few months ago we got a magazine in the mail from http://www.1stwishes.com/. It's a site devoted to first birthday gear. And luckily we could use the monkey theme with both girl and boy monkeys. It's a little tricky when you have boys and a girl. We rented out the Summergrove clubhouse and invited our family and best pals. Total we had 49 people at the party- more than we expected! Aunt Mary Beth made the "monkey" cake and 3 little cakes for each of the trips. After the babies had fun playing in their cakes, we opened gifts. The trips got so many presents, we couldn't believe it! After all the fun, the babies (and the parents) were completely exhausted. So the babies took naps and we relaxed on the couch. It was a busy day! For dinner, we took Kurt's parents out to dinner to celebrate Kurt's mom's birthday too. The babies were born on the 6th just one day shy of Mary's birthday on the 7th. So it was fun to celebrate both! Despite their busy day, the babies were in good moods at dinner and it was a great meal! On Sunday, we just relaxed around the house. Bad weather (ice and snow) was moving in so we just stayed home. Enjoy some pics from the party!

Happy Birthday My Little Loves

Well we made it! If only I could go back and tell that bleary-eyed zombie (think mom of 4 week old triplets) that we WOULD in fact make it. Of course, I knew in my heart we would muddle through but I had no idea how in my sleep-deprived brain. And now here we are on the day of their first birth day. It's fun to imagine all the birthdays to come. What will they be like on their 2nd birthday? 5th? 13th? 16th? 21st? Who will they become? We have a fun party planned for Saturday. Pictures to follow. Happy birthday my little loves!

Sarah Grace

Jacob William

Lucas Richard

Birth Day Eve

One year ago today was just a normal day on the HRP floor. I had been in the hospital for 3 weeks already and I was pretty settled into the routine. I woke up, got blood work, ate breakfast, showered, they put me and the babies on the monitor, got an ultrasound, ate lunch, had a round of visitors, ate dinner, was put back on the monitor, and went to bed. That day my labs showed a good improvement so my doctor was optimistic I could maybe make it another week or more. That was great news! I had no idea it was the eve of "birth day". Somehow between the morning of the 5th and the morning of the 6th things drastically changed. When my labs came back the next morning the doctor knew it was time to throw in the towel and get the babies born. I did protest the doctor's advice as I thought it was too soon. But after getting some "tough love" from the doctor, I knew it was the right thing to do.

Flash forward to one year later...today is the eve of the triplets 1st birthday. What a wild ride this year has been. I can't wait to see what the next year holds. Happy early birthday babies. I just wanted to be the first one to say it!

525,600 minutes...

Stealing a song from "Rent" that I have swirling around in my head:

...525,000 moments so dear (oh yes they are!). 525,600 minutes- how do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights (Oh, Mr. Sun why do you wake our babies up much too early on a Saturday?), in sunsets (can we finally put them down for the night?), in midnights (up feeding newborns the first weeks home), in cups of coffee (Oh thank you Starbucks for being a lifesaver on some very foggy mornings).

In inches (17 inches- the average length of each baby), in miles (53.05 miles each way to Northside Hospital from our house), in laughter (like when our dainty little petite daughter would let out these monster burps), in strife (luckily not much of that this year but we've had our share).

In 525,600 minutes- how do you measure a year in the life (of a family with triplets?) How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love. Seasons of love.

While the writers of that song probably weren't talking about a year in the life of a family with triplets, the words are certainly applicable. We are soon coming up on 1 year (or 525,600 minutes) since the triplets were born. One year ago tonight I was typing a blog post on this very laptop. I was confined to the hospital and unsure of when the big day would come (just 5 more days). Would we be ready? Would this change our whole lives? Could we even do it? And now a year later, my answers are no, yes, and maybe. No we weren't truly "ready", yes it changed our whole lives, and maybe we're finding our way. But these babies have truly given us the most amazing gifts- more than we could ever have even imagined. Now, don't ask me questions about motherhood when I've just been woken up in the middle of the night by my darling Sarah. Or when Luke's diaper leaks poop on my jeans. Or when Jake flings pureed carrots at my face! Ask me when I'm rocking Jake to sleep against my chest and I can smell his baby smells. Or when Lucas giggles because you're tickling his tummy. Or when Sarah gives me that "Beavis & Butthead" laugh.

This past year has really gone by fast. I can't believe we've gone from 3 babies in my womb to 3 wild and crazy babies in our house. I think I'll take the song's advice. I measure this year in love. Baby love.

Happy New Year Everyone! 2010 was such a fantastic year. We continue to hope and pray that each of your lives are filled with abundant blessings in 2011.