6.29.10 ~ the first year

How is it possible that these girls are a year old already? They're growing and learning so much, I'm sure they're all highly gifted individuals.  Can you believe how far they've come???

Avery was born at 10:26 pm weighing 3 pounds, 5 ounces and was 16 inches long.  She spent 28 days in the NICU and then came home and taught us how to care for a baby (her sisters will thank her when they're older). She is now 17 pounds, 7ounces and 28.5 inches long. She's at the 4th percentile for weight and 25th for height compared to other 12 monthers. We (mainly me) call her Avery, A-Ray, and Munchkin. She is starting to talk and says mama, dada, night night, banana, ball, dog?, diaper, and all done. She can point to my nose now and understands quite a few words (she will look at or go get items that I name). She just cut both top front teeth last week so she now has 4 that have broke through. She's crawling everywhere and pulling to stand on everything and everyone (sorry, Brelynn). She loves playing peek-a-boo, throwing a ball, and being tickled.

Brelynn was born at 10:28 pm weighing 3 pounds, 14 ounces. She spent 49 days in the NICU and came home to keep Avery company and show us how little sleep we really needed.  She is now 19 pounds, 3 ounces and 28.75 inches long. She's at the 20th percentile for weight and 35th for height compared to other 12 monthers.We call her Brelynn, Bre Bre, and Berlin (from one of the NICU doctors). She is also starting to talk and says mama, dada, night night, (ba)nana, and ball. She's not crawling yet, but she's showing a lot of interest in becoming mobile. She is holding strong with just her bottom two teeth. Her favorite thing in the world is riding on Dan's shoulders. And Jell-O.

Camille was born at 10:29 pm weighing only 3 pounds. She spent 61 days in the NICU and finally came home so we could be a WHOLE family. No more back and forth trips to Overlake...but we did still have her feeding tube for about 10 more days until we could all figure out how to get her to eat enough. It was then that we learned how a mere hour of sleep was a blessing and we could survive on just a few hours a day. Fast forward and now she's 16 pounds, 3 ounces and 27.5 inches long. She's still below the 3rd percentile for weight and at the 7th for height compared to other 12 monthers.We call her Camille, Camille-y, Cam, and Super Cam (yes, after the rock climbing gear). She babbles a ton and signs all done but isn't talking much just yet. She is by far our most mobile baby. She's starting to walk behind a push toy and will be walking independently in no time. She finally cut some teeth and now has her bottom two poking through a bit. She loves spinning in circles with Dan (a game we call dizzy-dizzy), crawling, and being independent.

We are so blessed to have these girls in our lives. It's been a wild and crazy year, but we wouldn't trade this experience for anything. We love you girls so much!

6.28.10 ~ The Seattle Aquarium

In an effort to celebrate the girls' birthday as much as possible, Dan & I took them to the Seattle Aquarium. They liked splashing in the water at the touch tank and trying to grab starfish and sea cucumbers. They were fascinated by the Window on Washington Waters display where they could touch the glass as the giant fish swam by. We also got root beer floats and the girls each got a tiny taste of ice cream, which they loved! (Sorry for the picure quality on the last 3...I didn't have time to adjust settings)

On their actual birthday we kept pretty close to home for the most part. They had their 12 month well child appointment and each got three shots. Later in the day we headed to Red Robin for dinner and then to the UW to be guest speakers for the Expecting Multiples parenting series that we took just over a year ago. I think we scared those poor twin parents to death :) After such a busy weekend we are all exhausted, but what an amazing birthday weekend!

6.27.10 ~ Birthday party!

We did it...we pulled off a successful 1st birthday party for these girls. A huge thanks to all the people who helped out with set up, take down, food preparation, and extra eyes and hands with the girls during the party.  We ended up with about 60 adults, 15 kids, and 5 dogs in attendance.  We had a ton of food, fun, family, and friends.

 

  

The eating of the cakes...it was way past nap time so Camille and then Brelynn got tired, but Avery went to town on her cake and ate most of it. 

and splashing in the water (aka washing off the cake!)

Our girls are ONE! Thank you to everyone who helped us survive this first year. We couldn't have done it without all the help and support of our wonderful family and friends.

6.12.10 ~ BBQ and practice birthday

We had a bbq today with my dad's side of the family (the Coulson side) and had a little birthday party for the girls. They got to open presents and eat cake...or should I say smear cake on themselves. The weather was beautiful, sunny and mid 70's for the first time all year. I got to practice making the cakes that I'll make for the girls' real birthday later this month. The girls seemed to like it, but I'm not sure it will be 'the recipe'. The cake was made with bananas and the frosting as sugar free, but used pureed raisins so the texture was...well, it was a little odd. And it looked funny with all the raisin bits in it. The girls loved it as you can clearly see :)

Avery was our first to dig in and absolutely LOVED getting messy! She actually ate most of her cake, too, when she wasn't posing for pictures.

After a rough start with what seemed to be a bee sting on her cheek (and black eye from Tuesday's encounter with a table at Starbuck's), Brelynn started getting into the action.

Camille was a little more dainty, but still managed to get messy. She tried rubbing frosting around on the sides and back of her head to make her hair grow...we'll see if it works.

I didn't really want to be serving (read: eating) banana cake with raisin frosting so I made a yummy cake for the grown ups. It was cherry chip from a box with a homemade rolled marshmallow fondant frosting and cute little fondant flowers. Hey, I don't have time to make a cake and frosting...cut me some slack! I thought it tasted great and I'd make it again. There are flowers all around the sides of the cake...so pretty.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Coulson, GREAT Aunt Nancy and Uncle Pat, Cousins Monica, Ed, Josh, and Malia, and Auntie Jenn for helping to make our 'practice' birthday so fun!

6.9.10 ~ a week of milestones

6.2.10 Avery pulls to stand. Getting down is still a problem.

6.6.10 Avery sits on her own

6.7.10 Brelynn says 'ba' while reaching for a ball. She said 'ball' a few months ago for a day or so, but we weren't sure if she meant it. This was spontaneous and she was trying to get the ball so we're going to count it as her first word.

6.8.10 Camille takes a few steps while holding on to the couch (cruising begins)

6.9.10 our dear friend Kevin's birthday (hehe...just had to say Happy Birthday!) I think this may be the big 30 :) Hope you have a great day!

6.2.10 ~ Hungry hippos and my necklace (picture)

These girls can eat! It isn't uncommon for them (collectively) to eat in one day a whole banana, avocado, sweet potato, can of pears, two hot dogs, two string cheeses, a nutragrain bar, several animal crackers, a cup of pasta with butter, and a few snacks. They won't eat much of anything from a spoon, but are great at feeding themselves using their hands.  Today for lunch we had an avocado, string cheese, and a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli. All were a big hit with the girls...

Brelynn

Avery

Camille

The gang

Oh, and here's a picture of my Mother's Day necklace that Dan got for me. It has the girls' names on the front and their birthday on the back. There is a sterling heart, pearl, and their birthstone (Alexandrite). I love it!

5.29.10 ~ 11 months (no pictures)

We enjoyed the nice weather a few weeks ago and were able to get out a little more. During the week (when it's not raining) the girls and I will walk around the lake, get a coffee treat for me, or go to a nearby restaurant to get take out for dinner.  We did the March of Dimes walk on 5/16 in Downtown Seattle and then Dan got some fun photos of the girls at EMP.  We also had my first Mother's Day this month.  The girls were really good and Dan let me sleep in.  He also made a wonderful dinner and got me a beautiful personalized necklace (sorry no picture...Dan's sick again and I don't want to figure out his camera tonight). As hard as these pasts 11 months have been, I love being a mom more than anything!

Here's what the girls have been up to this month:
~crawling: Camille finally started crawling (5/6/10)! She's getting pretty fast, too. We've been busy baby-proofing and have to watch her like a hawk now.  Avery is just beginning to crawl (5/25/10) and is really proud of herself when she goes forward. She has been known to stop and clap her hands :) Brelynn is quite the sitter and still really doesn't like being on her tummy. She'll crawl if I help her to get up on her knees and move her legs forward, but that doesn't last long before she rolls over again.
~walking: Camille can pull herself up to a standing position (5/16/10) and get herself into a sitting position all on her own. Once she's up in standing, she'll hold on to furniture and cruise if we help her to balance. Camille even let go and stood in the middle of the room yesterday, or so we thought. Come to find out she was actually leaning up against the couch but she was standing on her own. All of the girls will walk holding on to our hands.
~talking: all the girls imitate sounds and say 'mama' and 'dada' (and maybe even know what they're saying!).  They all now sign 'all done' and we're working on a few other signs. We've heard things that sound like 'all done', 'ball', 'night night', and 'duck' but we're not convinced they know what they were saying. We did hear a true first word from Avery on 5/22/10...she said as clear as day, "banana".  We were eating breakfast and I had said it a dozen times and she imitated it clearly with the same intonation I was using. Dan was doing dishes and he turned and said, "did she just say that?".  They are also showing us great comprehension. I can ask Avery "where's daddy/mommy/ball/duck?" and she'll look at the item. I can say 'do pat-a-cake' and they'll all start clapping their hands. If I start singing row, row, row your boat they'll start playing along without me showing them what to do. Brelynn will give us a High 5 and then she'll give herself one, too. I need to get that on video. They're also starting to waive 'hi'.
~social: Avery and Brelynn will initiate peek-a-boo and all three girls will clap their hands for pat-a-cake.  I can have them sitting facing each other and sing row, row, row your boat and they will rock forward and backward with each other like the boat is rocking. It is quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen!  Something that isn't so cute is the separation anxiety we're seeing here.  If we leave the room someone is bound to start screaming. Sometimes it stops quickly and other times it will continue until we go save them.
~eating: the girls now feed themselves most finger foods and greatly prefer real food to purees.  I haven't let them try with the spoon by themselves yet, but I think they'd do well with it.  They can drink from a straw on their own and a sippy cup if I tip the cup for them. We are even seeing some signs that they may actually hold their own bottles someday, too.  Since Camille didn't gain much weight last month they are all now on a very high calorie diet (aiming for 1000 calories per day per baby) and seem to be gaining weight pretty quickly on this new 'diet'.  They love keilbasa sausages, ravioli, macaroni noodles, animal crackers, bananas, pancakes, peaches, string cheese, and black beans. Oh, and they get butter and heavy whipping cream in just about anything I can get it in. 
~teething: Camille finally got a tooth to poke through today and her second tooth will probably be in tomorrow. Brelynn's working on her first top tooth, but otherwise everyone just has the two bottom ones for now.
~growth: The girls have been growing well this month so I'm not sure if it's all the butter and cream or if there was a scale issue last month with Camille. We saw the nutritionist 5/21 and the girls stats were (for 9 month olds):
     Avery: 16lbs, 13oz (25%ile), 27.25" (50%ile)
     Brelynn: 18lbs, 8oz (50-75%ile),28" (75%ile)
     Camille: 15 lbs, 9oz (10%ile), 26.5" (25%ile)

Thanks for reading my 'online baby book' since I'm too lazy to actually put all this in their baby books each month. I hope computers stay around for awhile so I can get all the info transferred someday!  I'll try to post some pictures again soon.