One Year Photo Outtakes

I've already posted many photos from the trio's birthday week. Here are a few pictures that didn't make the cut. This is what real life with triplets is like!

Do you know how hard it is to get three mobile children to sit down, face the camera, and hold a letter? Bahaha!

Thankfully I was able to capture some great pictures within the first three minutes of the cake smash, because that's as long as it took for Maddie to disrobe and James to crawl away.

I had the hardest time taking James' individual shots because he kept climbing on top of me and laughing hysterically. He wanted my hair, the camera, to stand up, etc. This kid is a nut!

Greatest lesson from the year: Learn to let go of ideals. Laugh when things don't go according to plan, because few things ever go as planned with triplets. And sometimes, the outtakes in life turn out even better.

First Birthday Party

Today was the triplet's long awaited first birthday party. Over 30 people crammed into our house to eat and celebrate the trio's first year.  Most of the same people were crammed into a hospital room the year before for the babies very first birthday party. It's incredible to think about how our family has transformed in a year. The personalities that have developed among the babies is especially fun to witness.

It was difficult for me not to go over the top with decorations, outfits, and food for the party. Even though it's one party, we're still celebrating three different lives.

I kept decorations simple with pennant banners, the ONE photo collage, and an 8-foot-long banner from Walgreens. I created the banner several weeks ago when they were having a 60% off special. I ended up spending more than I had planned for the decorations (just under $40 on all the displays) but I was really happy with how everything turned out. 

The morning flew by and I was still preparing food as guests arrived. We collectively devoured seven large pizzas, two bags of chips, a huge salad with veggies, fruit salsa with cinnamon pita chips, a half sheet cake, 24 mini cupcakes, and a gallon of ice cream!

Can you find Maddie's milk? Sneaky sister!

After the mess of the cake smash photos, we decided to give the trio their cake outside. I was especially thankful that the rain held off until after the party. The second round of smash cakes were less attractive than the first, but cute enough. I baked smaller chocolate cakes covered in cream cheese icing and sprinkles. 

As people finished eating lunch, my sister and I moved the high chairs outside. We were able to quickly attach the high chair skirts and pennant onto the trays, then thumbtack a banner to the fence. 

There was plenty of room outside for family and friends to watch. (Confession: We forgot to sing "Happy Birthday".)

James continued his technique of grabbing fists full of cake and smearing it over every surface. I'm not sure he actually ate any of it.

Amelia was especially fun to watch. She played around with the sprinkles for a while, before putting her whole face in the cake. When that wasn't enough, she picked up the entire cake and ate it like a sandwich. My little heifer.

Madeline was completely uninterested. She barely even touched the cake. After I finally cut a sliver for her, she began to eat some cake. A few minutes later she ripped off her bow (again), pulled off the high chair skirt, and slid her cake off the tray. 

I chose to keep the babies clothed for the cake smash so we could simply take their clothes off for a quick cleanup. It's amazing how fast babies can be washed off when there are two adults per baby.

We served dessert for the guests while James, Amelia, and Maddie were cleaned and changed. I was proud of myself for resisting the urge to make a complicated cake and instead, opting to buy a huge photo cake for $20.

Opening gifts was a bit of a whirlwind. I can remember Jackson actually unwrapping his presents and taking tissue paper out of bags at his first birthday. The triplets were all over the place. They were excited but distracted. If Amelia had a toy that lit up, James would put his bucket down and turn to get Amelia's toy. Then Maddie would get distracted and want a bag, and so on.

The week leading up to their birthday has been exhausting. (I fully recognize that I brought any stress upon myself.) I'm glad that their party is over and I can find another project (or book) to consume my time. I was especially grateful today that our house was filled with people that love James, Amelia, and Maddie--people that will continue to nurture and care for them throughout their childhood and adolescence. It's been a crazy year full of amazing changes and growth (from all six of us). I am just so thankful to be exactly where I am in my life right now.

Year two, bring it on!

Giant ONE Photo Display

I have taken over a thousand pictures of the triplets during their first year of life. I wanted to come up with a creative way to display them. We plan to have a slideshow of about 350 pictures continuously playing on the TV during their party tomorrow. I still wanted a display that people could see at any time. 

Here's a quick "how-to" for making the giant photo display that fills our downstairs hallway.

1. Use painter's tape to create two lines. Measure at various points to make sure they are straight and level.

2. Use painter's tape to spell the word "one".

3. Remove the sections of tape that are not part of the letters.

4. Tape photographs directly onto the painter's tape. (I had to go back and remove the diagonal of the "N" so the tape would not show.

This collage costs $15 to make (roll of painter's tape + printing pictures). I used 74 photos from James, Amelia, and Madeline's first year. I love how big it is and that I am able to showcase my favorite pictures.

12 Months Old

sleeping habits:
All three sleep soundly in their cribs from 7 a.m.--7 p.m. Maddie seems to have a few restless nights every few months, then returns to her usual sleep patterns.

They still take two naps a day. Morning nap is from 10-11:30 a.m.  Afternoon naps are typically between 3-4:30 p.m.

eating habits: 
We introduced cow's milk at 11.5 months. The cow's milk immediately caused Maddie's reflux and eczema to flare up. James has up to 6 poopy diapers a day now. After talking with the pediatrician today, we will be switching to soy milk. Amelia hasn't had any reactions.

7:00 a.m.- sippy cup of formula/milk (in cribs)
8 a.m.--fruit cup, oatmeal, string cheese, graham crackers, waffles, etc

11:30/12.--sippy cup of formula/milk with lunch (quesadilla, grilled ham and cheese, leftovers, etc)

5:00 p.m.--sippy cup of formula/milk with dinner (table food)

7 p.m.--6 oz bottle of formula/milk

The trio mostly eat finger foods at their high chairs, though they also use squeezable pouches on the go.

milestones:
James-pulls himself up to standing position, crawls, has two bottom teeth, drinks from a straw sippy cup
Amelia-pulls herself up to standing, crawls, waves, claps, drinks from a straw sippy cup
Maddie-crawls (with incorrect form), pulls herself up to knees (and standing a few times), has two bottom teeth, waves, drinks from a straw sippy cup

challenges:
-Maddie has mastered crawling while extending her leg. She no longer tolerates wearing the hip helpers because they make it so much harder for her to crawl.
-Picnics and outdoor outings are becoming impossible between the extreme heat and chasing three very fast crawlers.
-Jackson gets frustrated when his siblings steal his food on the coffee table, turn the channel while playing with the remote, and take his toys.

victories:
-First birthday photos have been a lot of fun. The babies played with their cakes and made a mess. The girls looked especially cute in their tutus and bows.
-Maddie is making huge strides and closing the gap of how many months delayed she is. She is also on the growth chart for the first time since birth!
-The trio entertain one another all day long. James and Amelia make each other laugh so hard when they play in the curtains or pull up on opposite sides of the table.

special notes:
-We made it an entire year without spending a single dime on formula, thanks to pumping for 9 months, donor milk, and Enfamil multiples program.
-I made an appointment to register for WIC tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about this, but it is no secret that we could use the help.

Cake Smash Photos

When I get an idea in my head, I make it my mission to make every detail come to life exactly how I picture it. I am so thankful that I was able to create most of my vision with the cake smash photo shoot. I'm posting the same pictures I posted on Facebook, but here are a few behind-the-scenes facts involved in this photo shoot:

• I moved my couch and opened the blinds in the living room so I could get as much natural light as possible. I took pictures every few hours yesterday to determine what time of day filled the room with the best light. Noon was the perfect time.
• I borrowed my father-in-law's camera (Cannon EOS Rebel from a decade ago) so I could actually focus and take multiple photos in quick succession. I love it!
• I made the pennant banner using scrapbook paper. The twine I bought to string the paper together cost three times as much as the paper did.
• Even though James' cake is essentially missing, it's because he finger painted the floor with it. He may have eaten two bites at best the entire time.
• It took sweeping, vacuuming, mopping twice, and scrubbing on my hands and knees with OxiClean to clean the Crisco covered floor. We still had an ant invasion within an hour.
• While I love the pictures, I unsuccessfully tried to remove the shadows on the wall for a good hour. I have not mastered Photoshop.
• James crawled away after five minutes. Maddie lasted a few minutes longer. Amelia was left alone daintily eating. All three were in the bath within fifteen minutes.
• James' tie was the source of hours of stress. I taught myself how to make a bowtie, then hated it once it was on him. I went to a dozen different stores to try and find ties but they all said the same thing, "We only carry them seasonally." I bought a $12 baby suit from Burlington Coat Factory. After all of that, we ended up using a clip-on tie that we've had packed away in the attic for three years. (I clipped it on to a ribbon with velcro.)
• I originally scoffed at the idea of having a cake smash photo shoot. I changed my mind when I realized the babies birthday party would be a different day than their actual birthday. Sunday's cake smash will be outside (weather permitting) in their high chairs so we don't have to clean up or worry about people cramming into our kitchen. 
• I bought the pink necklace that the girls are wearing for $5 from Claires. When I got home I was upset to discover that it was one long strand that was wrapped together to look like two necklaces in the package. The color matched the tutus perfectly so I just cut the necklace in half and twisted it to make two necklaces. You can tell in the closeup of Maddie. It drives me crazy.
• Maddie refused to keep her necklace on. For once, Amelia did not take off her bow.
• While writing this blog post, I am reminiscing about VH1's Pop-Up videos.

DIY Smash Cake and Cake Stands

If you haven't noticed, we've been living pretty minimally these days. It's hard to go over the top with decorations and outfits when you have a tight budget. I've been determined to make everything perfect for the babies first birthday, despite low funds.

My favorite first birthday tradition is the cake smash. Since their party is not on their actual birthday, I decided to let them have a cake smash on their birthday, and a small cupcake on the day of their party. As I was getting everything ready for the cake smash, I realized I couldn't put the cakes directly on the ground. A paper plate would look tacky and a glass plate could break. I looked online for prices of miniature cake stands and quickly decided that wasn't in the budget. So, off to Pinterest I went. I stole the idea to make my own cake stands using plates and bowls. It could not have been any easier! I spent $4 total at the Dollar Store on one pack of small plates and three plastic bowls.

You simply hot glue the base of the bowl onto the back of the plate. Within two minutes, I had three miniature cake stands that cost just over $1 each!

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Of all the birthday details and decorations, I felt most confident about baking the smash cakes. I baked them in my five inch round pans. (One cake recipe only made enough for two cakes. The second recipe made the third cake and 24 mini cupcakes.)

After the cakes cooled I leveled them. You could either cut the dome off with a serrated knife or use a cake leveler. I did not apply a crumb coat because the rose decorations would be more than enough icing on the cake.

Because I wanted to cover the cake in roses, I had to make a LOT of icing for these small cakes. I doubled my usual buttercream icing (double recipe: 1 cup butter, 1 cup shortening, tbsp of vanilla, 8 cups of powdered sugar). I tinted half of it pink, the other half blue. I used 1M tip to make the roses.

Once you fill your piping bag halfway, you simply swirl the icing onto the cake in a circular motion until you have roses. After swirling the roses on the sides and top of the cake, you'll be left with open spaces.

To cover them, you can either overlap more roses on top, or simply add swirls to fill in the gaps. FYI, it would not look great if you just filled it with dollops of icing because it would look like roses and stars. Try to swirl in the same direction as the roses so it looks less obvious.

Here are the final cakes on their cake stands. I already had all the supplies for the cakes since I bake so much, but you could buy all the ingredients and a 1M tip from a craft store for less than $20. If you didn't have small cake pans you could use a sheet pan and cut circles out or use ramekins.

I cannot wait for the babies to tear these cakes apart!

DIY Tutus and High Chair Skirts

My craftiness is limited to cake baking and scrapbooking. Yet for some unknown reason, I decided I was going to make the girls' tutus for their first birthday. I followed this tutorial to make them using crochet headbands and tulle. The tutus required two spools of tulle and two baby headbands, which cost $5 at A.C. Moore (with the 50% off coupon that comes in the Sunday paper). 

Sidenote: I had to exchange these headbands because they were too big.

I chose to use two different shades of pink tulle. I measured the distance between Amelia's hip and knee to be 7.5 inches. Since I was going to fold each piece of tulle in half, I measured and cut 40 pieces of tulle (20 in each color) that were 16 inches long.

I put the headband around a tea pitcher so it would be somewhat stretched out and stay in place. I folded a piece of tulle in half and slid it through the hole in the headband.

I then pulled the piece through the loop to create a slipknot.

I repeated this 40 times, alternating colors. If I wanted a really full tutu I could have gone around the circumference twice, using the next row of holes. I found one row to be plenty for my little girls.

The girls look precious in their tutus!

Seriously, could they be any cuter?

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I also made two high chair skirts using two more spools of tulle and ribbon. (This cost me another $5 with another 50% off coupon.) 

This was a simple project that followed the same technique as the tutus. I wanted the high chair skirts to be a bit longer so I measured and cut 20 inch strips of tulle. I cut ribbon that was long enough to go around the entire high chair tray.

Next, I folded the ribbon in half to find the midpoint. I tied my first piece of tulle using the same method of folding it in half and threading it through the loop. I alternated colors and tied two to the left, two to the right, two to the left, and so on. I did it this way because I only wanted the tulle on the front of the tray and needed to keep it centered. Since I knew I would be pushing the three high chairs together, I didn't think it needed all that extra fluff of a full high chair skirt.

Once I had enough tulle to cover the front of the high chair, I was ready to adhere the ribbon to the high chair tray. I applied velcro dots to the clean tray, then to the back of the ribbon. It stays firmly in place but is also easy to detach.

Here are the finished high chair skirts, along with a simple pennant banner I made for James' chair.

For a mere $10 I was able to make three tutus, two bows, and two high chair skirts. (Technically, the velcro dots would have added a few more dollars had I not already had them packed away in my classroom boxes.) A little bit of tulle goes a long way!