Birthday time ...again! And farewell for now

Well it is hard to believe that 2 years have gone past since we became parents of our gorgeous toddlers. They are a constant source of movement and noise these days and into everything! the development that we are seeing at this stage is amazing... everyday seems to bring more and more words and greater understanding of their world. Also greater delight and devilment by all 3! They are all meeting their milestones and have mastered the art of manipulating both of us... if one doesn't succeed the others will work on us. They are still in cots but we are thinking of transitioning into toddler beds in the next few weeks. ( or not.. I can imagine been woken at 2am cause they can now get out of bed!) We are also in the process of doing the dreaded potty training... any advice/ hints gratefully received on how to do triplets all at once. Actually they are doing pretty good and we only tend to have a few accidents a day... still in nappies at night.  They are mostly sleeping through the night with only the occasional dummy run. They happily go off to bed at 6.30 when we say it is bedtime and settle listening to their music and generally we don't hear them until 6 in the morning.... not too bad I think! They go to daycare a few days a week and love it... so many other activities and more people than just mummy to annoy :) Harrison remains our biggest and now weighs in at 12.6 kilos, Anastasia is 10.6 and Oliver is trailing at 10.2... he just got over 10 kilos this month! Harrison is spot on 50% with his peers where the other 2 are at 10%... hopefully Oliver will have a growth spurt one of these days and be able to wear his pants without them slipping down all the time! Anastasia will probably always be on the dainty/petite side as seems to be a family trait with the girls which will be great when she is older.

Like many others who do these blogs I wonder when is the appropriate time to say farewell. I feel so much appreciation for all my fellow bloggers whom I stalked (lol) without whose advice, humour, support and honesty would have made this journey for us so much harder to follow on this miraculous path to parenthood. I hope that our blog and the success that we have achieved encourage and support others through their journeys. The end result of our three fantastic children made all the heartache, grief and stress worth it one hundred fold.

We will probably be back with the occasional update and photo splurge and I will definitely be watching and reading all the other blogs(both old and new) out there.  The connection I feel to our worldwide surrogate families will always pull me back to cheer on and support others as they undertake this amazing journey.

Enjoy our trio as they turn 2 ....

Hungry caterpillar cake.... yummy!

picnic time

Dad pull faster!

bubbles in the spa at the hotel....opps!!!

Just love our water table

Teletubbies move over.. we are taking on the roles of super toddlers!

Mr O....Cool dude Oliver!

Little miss Anastasia

quad bikes for our birthday... yay!

butter wouldn't melt in my mouth!

I suppose we are allowed to do this... it is our party!

Musicians in the making!

no she is fine mummy... promise!

Harrison says I love my daddy!

 Our teddie bear dance... sorry about the soundtrack!

Cheers for now and good luck to everyone wherever you are on this journey. Thanks for been part of our lives.
Paula

Holiday Fun

Christmas and New Year was a great time spent sharing good times and love with family and friends. We had both sets of grandparents down and the trio were totally spoilt with all the love and attention that they received.
ince the new year has arrived we have had surgery on all 3 for grommets which was quite an event as we had to drive 500km to the hospital where the surgeon operates and then return 2 days later... thankfully the toddlers( am deliberately trying not to say babies anymore!) seemed to recover quickly and travelled well. Since teh operation you could see the difference almost immediately.. they seem to hear better and their pronunciation and new words has increased incredibly. But I truly believe selective deafness is a male trait... both boys seem to not "hear" me when I call them to do something!  Hopefully now we will have a decrease in the ear infections. Also Oliver has been given the all clear for CP... he just has low body tone and we are to push him into swimming, beach walking and trampolining to strengthen him... it hasn't held him back as he can out climb the others and out run Harrison but not Anastasia.

It is so delightful to see them chasing each other around and giggling madly. Their personalities are really developing.... Oliver loves music, dancing and singing of any kind and often serenades us with his own song as we drive. Harrison has developed a real love of books and keeps trying to get us to read every possible moment... and gets indignant when we have to say no! Anastasia loves been involved and helping anyone she can.. constantly looking to pick up things and puts them away or give them to the right person.. it is amazing that she knows exactly which clothes, toys, articles belong to everyone and will make sure that they get the right ones!
They got little tricycles for xmas as well as a water slide... it is designed for 3 and over but Daddy thought they had to have it! It was wonderful watching Anastasia just leap into climbing up and sliding down... and touching seing Harrison getting very concerned and saying "don't , don't" in very worried tones to her as he thought it was too scary... the video shows how she just loves it!

More presents!!!

Some one left pressies in my cot!

Daddy and his tiddles....

The bikies are in town ... xmas presents

Christmas lunch

Pammar reading a joke....

Seashell for you

Kisses for Nana Pamma

Always time for cuddles

Dining out is fun

Family bbq 

Little miss Happy!

Special friends lost their little one recently and it just makes me treasure every moment with our trio.. they can be so frustrating, and we are having daily battles about things like eating, dressing, playing nice and at times I feel that I am overwhelmed but since then I have appreciated everything about them.  We are now both very aware and check on them more often and give them extra cuddles every day.

Happy New Year to everyone and hope all your wishes come true 

December 2012

The last few months have really flown....the trio are so busy growing and learning that there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Admittedly by 6-6.30 they are ready to head to bed after a full day of fun and activities. And they take themselves into the room and wait beside their cots to be lifted in with a kiss and cuddle.... so cute.... hope it lasts! Harrison is now 11.6kilos and Anastasia and Oliver are our lightweights at 10.4 each. They mostly feed themselves( very messy) with only the occasional"mummy help". They are only having one nap now during the day... try to get 2+ hours but sometimes they only sleep 1-1.5 hours :(
We have been down to Brisbane again and enjoyed catching up with family and friends as well as taking everyone to Dreamworld and enjoying the "fast rides". Oliver really enjoyed this and wanted more while Anastasia and Harrison were keen too but happy to look at other things and everyone enjoyed swimming. They also loved playing in the rain one morning when it came down really heavily ....daddy took them out and they had a ball!

Enjoying popcorn with another set of SCI trippies

Oliver

Anastasia

Harrison

our first merry go round ride

Oliver very serious about driving the car!

We had a bad run with ear infections and have seen a specialist who recommends that they all have grommets.... yep all 3 are booked in for surgery in January.  Hopefully this will sort out the ear problems and we will be able to cancel our weekly(joking!) doctor visits. Not quite as bad as that but they know us as the triplets!
We are spending Xmas at home but will be visited by both sets of grandparents and auntie Cinta as well so will have a full house with lots of food, fun and festive times

Not sure about Santa but there were no tears
Anastasia, Oliver and Harrison

With Daddy

Not another Xmas party!

Getting tickles

Good morning beautiful

See our lovely beach

The last 12 months have been amazing, exhausting at times but completely the most satisfying year we have had. It has been wonderful watching our three babies develop into little toddlers with such different personalities and we are looking forward to see them blossom even further in 2013.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that all the IP's get positive results and that everyone can complete their families in the new year.

Eighteen months... oh wow!

 Today it is 18 months since we became the proud parents of Harrison and Anastasia and then of Oliver 3 weeks later.... so much has happened in that time and trying to keep up with all the changes is so hard. They are forever changing and developing in new ways every day.... it is such a pleasure to watch them grow.
Have just done a large photo dump... we have been very busy and have experienced a few things since I last posted... fireworks and dining out  in Brisbane, camping with friends and swimming to name a few. Our "favourite " auntie surprised us with a visit as well which was lovely. Enjoy

Harrison eating "num nums"

Anastasia with "num num"

Oliver showing the others how to not get caught with food in your mouth

camping is great fun with friends

our home pool

Chilling watching mummy and daddy set up our shade house

First time every watching TV.. lasted 5 minutes!

Trying to decide if this canoeing is any good

With Mummy and "bestest" auntie

Nothing beats chippies and sauce...yum

Our flying fish!

Oliver stepping out!

I have been holding off posting until it was official ..... and today I believe we can actually say that he has decided to join the rest of us and walk... at least when it suits him!
Oliver has been taking his time and practising his skills around the furniture and even breaking out 3-5 steps but hasn't been convinced that this is for him. Then this morning he just decided "yep  I can do this" ... and so he has been showing off now to anyone who will watch him! We think that he has held off for such a long time cause he didn't have the strnght in his ankles. Since Oliver was born it has been obvious that he has totally different body tone to Harrison and Anastasia.... there was even a question asked if he might have Cerebral Palsy. We obviously were concerned and worried about this possible diagnosis and have been monitoring him closely... and as he has been meeting all his milestone( in his own good time!) we think that if he does have CP it is extremely mild and hopefully won't need too much intervention. Saying that though we have to say that he is standing with his right foot facing out and wanting to walk on the inner side of his foot.... so we are booked to see a specialist physio and ortho team in the near future to see if he needs some assistance to get his feet in the correct posture. This is so mild when I consider all the potential issues that we could of had with 3 babies... and I just am so grateful for the health and happiness of our delightful trio!
Now so other facts about the trippies
We have had a really lousy 3 months with teething, broncholitis, tonsillitis, inner ear infections and then the flu.... uggghhhh!! One night I think I got up over 18 times to different babies at different times. Thankfully though they are all in the same room they tend not to disturb each other... so it seems that they arrange to do a tag team just to keep Mummy hopping!
When we went to the paediatricain last month they all passed ....... Harriosn is spot on 50% for everything(weighs 10.6kgs) while Anastasia was measuring at the 10% for her age(weighs 8.6) and so we need to increase her weight some more. Her head circumfrance is a concern as it is 5% but this has been the case since birth and when we look at the family her grandmother has a petite head... so genetics definitely are working here. Oliver was 50% on height but was only 5% on weight (8.7kgs).... so both him and Anastasia are back on formular to boost that... and it has worked well. In one month they have both hit over the 9.5 mark!
They all eat like crazy and seem to enjoy most foods... it is funny that if you put out a bowl of fruit peices Harrison grabs all the grapes, Anastasia all the strawberries and Oliver all the kiwi fruit... and they pass each other the peices they know the others like... so cute! Harriosn is probably the most cautios in tasting new stuff while the other 2 just dig in.
They are doing well on the sleeping mostly... they go to bed at 6-6.30pm and generally wake up at 6 in the morning... still getting the occasional callout for dummy or if we have a cough or sore teeth which is fine by me. They are now only having 1 sleep during the day.. generally go down at 10.30 -11 and sleep for 1-2 hours. Then they go all afternoon!
They are all testing the limits...looking at us when they are near the TV to see if they can get away with playing with the button, taking toys off each other and then running away (mostly Anastasia!) They are all enjoying climbing on their play equipment and have nmany falls and scrapes from the top... but still get back up and go again.
Harrison is still very cautious of new situations and wants reassurance whereas Anastasia will watch for 1 second.. then jump in madly. Oliver watches and studies and then proceeds to join in after he works it all out. They are just so totally different in personalities.. so amazing to watch and see them develop as little individuals. Words are slow in coming ... they do tend to use some signing to get their message across and I think that as they have each other they won't be rushing to talk to us!
Enough of the dialogue... on to the piccies!

Oliver's first real walk!

The trio rumbling with daddy

The granddads and daddy taking us for a ride

Both sets of grandparents and daddy celebrating daddy's birthday.

we love climbing anything!

Princess with her adoring nanna's!

Our first costume party.. superman, princess and spiderman here to the rescue

Super dude!

spidery on the prowl!