Daddy's Day

My first father's day was just splendid. Katie let me sleep in, then I got to go for a long run, then we went to the park and got some ice cream. Enjoy the pics.


Keller

Quinn

Hollister

Daddy

Day at the park

Sorry about the crazy layout. We try to make good looking blog posts but Google decided to change their blogger program and... well... its tough to work with.

So the girls have been doing pretty good, and we are grateful for that.

We recently had one of Katie's friends, Jenny, come stay and while she was watching us feed Keller she said "I can't believe how much work it is to feed them." All I can say is ignorance is bliss; we have no perspective to understand how demanding it is because we've never known any other way. I am grateful that Katie is so tough, because many days she takes 5 of 6 feeds by herself (each of which takes about 2 hours). This experience is made up of so many moments that fly by that it's only when you take in the big picture that you really appreciate how big of a deal this is. ~20 diaper changes a day. ~18 feeds. ~21 bottles (at least) to make and clean (each of them has 5 small parts that have to be hand cleaned with specialty brushes). Burping, soothing, play time, individual time. It adds up. But when it adds up it seems daunting. When you think of it as a collection of moments its a lot more do-able. Lets share some moments.

Some of our fun little moments lately have included a couple of great get togethers with the neighbors...

Glen with Keller, Katie with Holly and Randy with Quinn. The girls are really getting used to being held by our friends (which is GREAT).

A really fun BYOE (bring your own everything) picnic. It was so fun to see everyone and all of the kids. Of note, not a son in the bunch...it is a conspicuous female conspiracy in my opinion.

My first Mother's Day

Today has been wonderful so far. The girls did a 1030pm feed last night and didn't make a sound until almost 6am. Not that it mattered much to me :). Jeremy lets me sleep most mornings anyway as he loves to have the first morning feed. I slept until almost 830 and got up to coffee and a cinnamon roll waiting for me from our wonderful neighbors. After the next mid-morning meal we loaded the girls up and went for a walk and picnic down by the water (see photos below). When we got home, Jeremy went to run errands while I did the next round of bottles. All three girls ate over 3 ounces for me and burped in less than an hour and are now sleeping...ahhh so nice!!

Post bath nap

Mommy gave us all baths and now we are sleepy. For the first time ever none of us cried or fussed. In fact, we talked and giggled most of the time. We have been eating well and enjoying sleeping 6-8 hours at night, mommy and daddy love that too :).

Just some pics

Grammie swap

We've swapped Grammies. Mary departed after a month long say on Saturday AM, and we had brief overlap with Ott & Beth as the grand-ma's passed the torch again.

We continue to get incredible support from friends and family, and we have (repeatedly) been pleasantly surprised with gifts and donations. Our family is humbled by the outporing of generosity and love. We know we'll have no problem raising these girls to value kindness, friendship and generosity.

The weather in Alexandria has been great and Spring is already well underway. We've been enjoying taking the girls for more and more walks. On Easter we got to enjoy a long visit to the park where the girls could show off their Easter outfits. Too cute. Of note, now that tourism season is back to full-swing we find ourselves becoming part of the spectacle. People love to see triplets. We're going to find a way to capitalize on that yet!

On an unrelated note, Katie and I had some time to ourselves on Saturday and we found a great little antique & art store. Every place we live we try to find some unique art to commemorate our time there. In this case, we found three pieces that we decided we couldn't afford to miss. One is by a local artist, two are from France, and its best to not think about how much we spent. We've added those pictures below too.


Three generations all together. Thank you grandma Mary, you'll be missed.


Easter dresses at the park. Lots of spectators

And why wouldn't people want to stop and stare at such cuties!





In addition to complementing our little angels, lots of people can't believe that Katie is the mother of triplets. Her shirt (a gift) says "I make three people at a time. What's your superpower?"




Love to hear those birds sing.


IMO, Keller and Hollister are both beginning to really look more like identicals now that Keller is filling out and Hollister is getting a little longer. Holly is probably about 10.5 lbs, and Keller is around 9 (same as Quin), but they're getting a little more proportional.


IDE story time. "And then Napoleon, exhausted after a half day wasted trying to explain the intricacies of strategy to his idiot brother, said 'the crux of strategy is that if you set out to take Vienna...take Vienna.'" Of course, I lost Keller somewhere between my explanation of the Levee en Mass and Waterloo.

I think Keller just pinched Holly's backside. Trickster!


So laid back. California style.

You can see a sliver of Quinn's eyes beginning to change color from blue-green to brown.


Super Keller, up...up...and away!! Quinn is doing really well in her Bumbo chair. She of course thinks it is a throne from which she may hold court. Yes, your majesty.


Once again, they're really beginning to look identical.



Play time.


These two are by Odile Roure. The lighting in the picture really fails to capture the vivid colors. Its very reminiscent of Gaugin from his Polynesian works ... IMHO.

By Zahkar Sasim. This piece is extremely textural. Just loved the depth.