Three Times the Fun: Happy Birthday to Us!

Happy Family - Mom and Dad, Aidan, Gavin and Brady

We can hardly believe it's been an entire year since the boys burst onto the scene (no c-section pun intended)! We started off the big birthday week with their one year appointment and vaccinations - FUN! Here are the stats:

Aidan - 20.24# and 28.58 inches long

Brady - 21.66# and 28.54 inches long

Gavin - 23.7# and 28.85 inches long

Truly, Small, Medium and Large. :) Funny story with their vaccines. After meeting with our Dr. and getting them signed off for vaccination, the nurse comes and asks if we can come back in 3 days (on their b-day) to get the shots. She says they aren't supposed to give the vaccines before they turn one year old and that if they give them prior to their birthday, we may have to get them re-done. Curt asks (somewhat sarcastically) if the vaccines won't work prior to 365 days passing from birth and she says we can insist on the vaccination, but we should really talk with the dr. We of course think she has taken crazy pills, since the dr. just signed off and said they were ready for vaccination, but i went back to the dr's office to check in with him and see what the hell she was talking about. He seemed surprised to see me and when i shared what she shared with us (about not having them prior to one year and needing to have them re-done) he gives her a LOOK, looks at me and says - "3 days?" I laughed and said, "if you are OK with it, we are DEFINITELY OK with it" and he says "the nurses have a different protocol". So I looked at the nurse and said "we are going to go with the Dr's protocol". Can you IMAGINE asking parents of multiples to not only miss another day of work but to get their squirmy children BACK to the dr. because they are 3 days ahead of their birthday?! That is the difference between teaching critical thinking skills and using rote memorization when training people. I don't say this to be sarcastic or mean, but only to be truthful about the sometimes challenging decisions people make in their jobs because the exact situation isn't outlined in the manual. All three boys were VERY good abotu their shots and only cried at the prick and surprise. Within moments they were back to their sweet selves (thanks in part to the tylenol mom gave them before we went to the dr.).

We had a small birthday gathering with some friends, but due to the SNA (snotty nose alert) we had to put out the morning of the party (aidan and gavin were SNOT machines and Brady got it that night) only one child came - who then got sick 2 days later on HER birthday. hey, we warned everyone and gave them an easy out. :)

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to - Brady

Anyway, Aidan and Gavin seemed to roll through the additional people in the apartment, but Brady had his shy hat on most of the afternoon. By the time we did cupcakes for the boys (about a half hour in) he had HAD it. He basically cried the entire time his brothers ate and watched him freak out. At least we got some good pics. :)

Once people weren't focused on him, he was able to calm down and play with some new toys and crawl near Leila (born two days after them) and watch her while she was fussy. It was very cute. Curt and I were just happy everyone got through year one without any major trauma - the boys OR us. :)

All three of the boys seem to be on the edge of a skill exposion. Of course they still will only say dada/gaga (Gavin is now babbling and fully responds to us talking to him - it's like he turned his switch on the week before his first birthday!) - but they are DEFINITELY communicating with each other and are understanding what we tell/ask them. Gavin is still standing the longest and the steadiest, but he hasn't really tried to make any steps. You can see him thinking about it as he wants to go from one place to another, but he inevitably plops on his bottom and crawls. Aidan on the other hand has taken a no holds barred approach with trying to walk. The other night he was standing by one end table and decided, seemingly on a whim, to walk over to the coffee table - about 3 feet away. He just basically THREW his body in that direction and hoped for the best. Kind of like drivers in Doha's roundabouts. :) Brady on the otehr hand is still mastering standing without support. He likes to climb up Curt or I as we are sitting/laying on the ground and then push himself to fully standing while he sticks out his tongue. and then crashes on us and laughs as he gets up to do it again.

And yes, I'm VERY mushy about the first year already passing. I can't BELIEVE how fast it has gone by for me. My parents had a pastor who talked about time and the speed with which it passes in a way that made a lot of sense to me. He said at your first birthday you have lived 100% of your life in that year - so it can seem like a long time. At your second birthday, you have lived 1/2 of your life in that year, so it may seem to pass more quickly. And so on. So in my 32nd year (when they were born) i lived 1/32nd of my life - in comparison with my life as a kid, it really has passed more quickly. Think how much longer summers seemed when you were in grade school. They were like whole years in and of themselves as a kid. And now it's a blink of an eye before it's almost fall and then winter again. (sigh). well, unless you live a mile from the sun like we do, then it seems like forever since you went outside without sweating profusely, but you know what i mean.