Photo Session and Peach Milkshakes

The babies had a photo session with our photographer, Heather Swanner, last Thursday. The babies did such a great job that Brooke and I decided to reward them with a peach milkshake from Chick-Fil-A afterwards. The babies loved it!

Here's Piper drinking her milkshake:



Here's Rosemary really sucking it down:



Here's the Hammer patiently (not) waiting his turn:



Then drinking milkshake from the straw:



But Henry much preferred drinking the milkshake from the cup instead of the straw. When he was drinking you could hear the gulps:



And the most exciting part of this post is that you can click HERE to see the slideshow of photos from the photo session. I am so excited about the pictures I can barely stand it! I think this is my favorite session yet. . . .

First Happy Meals!!

We (okay, mostly me) decided that it is time for the kids to have their first Happy Meal. So, after our trip to Aldridge Gardens this past Saturday, we ran through the drive-through at McDonald's and picked up three cheeseburger Happy Meals.

Piper was definitely impressed:






Henry thoroughly enjoyed his Happy Meal. He really cracked me up because he ate the burger and fries about the way I'd imagine a teenage boy would eat it, burger in one hand, other hand shoveling fries in his mouth. . . .






Rosemary was very happy with her Happy Meal, and especially loved the pickles!!






We had to get the babies chocolate milkshakes with their Happy Meals. Piper, a great lover of chocolate, was very happy with her milkshake:



Henry loved his milkshake, too!



Henry preferred to drink his chocolate milkshake directly out of the cup rather than through the straw.



At some point, Gary tried to pull the milkshake away from Henry, and had a really hard time getting it away!!




Rosemary got hold of her milkshake and was not going to let go for anything:



Unfortunately, Piper dropped her milkshake onto the floor.



Even though Rosemary was sitting sideways while Gary was cleaning up Piper's spilled chocolate milkshake, she never stopped sucking down her own chocolate milkshake.



And this is Piper's reaction to dropping her chocolate milkshake:



Poor Piper! Maybe her daddy will let her have another one sometime soon.

Another trip to Aldridge Gardens

Now that the weather is finally nicer here, this morning we had another trip to Aldridge Gardens. For a couple of weeks the babies have been moving toward one nap a day, so this past Wednesday we moved lunch to an earlier time followed by a single nap. So far the transition is going pretty well, and the best part about it is that it gives us more time to do things in the morning without rushing home for a nap. So, we leisurely got ready to leave, spent a little longer than usual at the Gardens, then picked up lunch on the way home (more about that later). Here are some pics from this morning:






While we were walking on the trail around the lake, all of the sudden Gary took off running with the babies. I heard a little squeak come from Piper, and then they were gone!




Here's what the babies thought about the running:





After that, we let the kids out of the stroller to run around and play for a little while. . . .




For some reason, Henry put his face right down into the grass and laid there for a while, but then he sat up and eventually gave me a good smile for the camera:




Rosemary had too much to do to sit down for long and let me take pictures of her:





There is a small "stream" and "waterfall" at the gardens, and Gary took each of the kids over to play while we were there.



Piper really enjoyed playing in the water:



Henry immediately put his entire face in the water (that must be a boy thing):



Rosemary must have been a little thirsty because she wanted to drink the water!



All in all, it was a great morning for all of us.

Growing Up

The kids seem to keep doing more and more things every day. And really cute things at that. I was at home with the babies alone for a little while on Tuesday night, and it seemed like they were doing the best they could do to impress me with their ultimate cuteness. The first thing that happened is that Rosemary turned toward me and took two steps. They weren't really "steps" in the sense of walking, but she lunged toward me and moved her feet sort of like she was walking (she has improved on that by taking real steps today), but it was exciting nonetheless. I predict that Rosemary will do her best to mimic Piper and will also be full-on walking in no time.

Then when I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, I could hear Piper singing. Piper loves to sing, but only when "no one" is around. Piper will sing around Henry and Rosemary, but not adults. And by that I mean that she will sing if she doesn't see adults in her line of vision. She sings a lot when she is in the stroller, and she really sings a lot when she is in the car (rear-facing seat so she can't see us up front). And she has more than one song. If I'm playing music, when a new song comes on she waits to hear it for a little bit, then starts belting out her own version of the song. It's my favorite thing about taking her for a ride anywhere -- listening to her sweet voice. At least I think it's a sweet voice. Unfortunately, she takes after me and Gary because if you ever hear her on American Idol, it will be for the first part of the show where they make fun of the contestants.

And Henry is becoming very good at giving hugs. That night I was hugging Henry, and while he had his little arms around my neck he starting patting my back. It was a little awkward for him, but you could tell that he has picked up that we pat him on the back when we hug him, and he was doing the same for us. Too sweet.

Anyway, no pictures for this post, just some comments on how sweet my babies are -- and how much they are growing up. We had a photo session with our photographer, Heather Swanner, this morning, so there are many many cute pictures coming soon!

Introduction to One-Year-Old Style

When we got Henry dressed on Sunday morning, his collar was popped. Henry likes it that way, and thinks he looks cool. Gary hates a popped collar, but I thought it was cute (excuse the bananas on his shirt from breakfast):



I told Gary that we just needed to let Henry express himself through his clothing if that's what he wanted to do. Henry did seem to think that he looked particularly good that morning and really struck a few poses for the camera. . . .



But I will admit that I am not a fan of the saggy pants look he was sporting along with his popped collar.



P.S. These pictures are the first ones I've taken with the camera on manual setting and using a flash. Until now, I've just been too scared to even try it, but I really think these turned out okay. I used my pop-up flash instead of my external flash because I decided to try flash at the last minute, but I think I'm ready to try a little with my external flash now.

The Climbing is Starting to Get Out of Hand

Last week we had to move the changing table out of the playroom for many reasons, not the least of which is that Henry started climbing it. Another thing that the babies have been loving is pushing things around the playroom -- puzzles, trucks, dolls, their little monogrammed chairs. . . .

Considering this new combination of moving things around and climbing, I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised to see this yesterday (yes, that is SweetLittleRosemary):




Luckily Gary got to Rosemary before she tried to take her climbing to the next step.

Just one year ago today, we finally had all three babies home from the hospital. It was almost impossible then to imagine that we would be where we are now with three healthy, happy and very active babies. I have a feeling that things are about to get very interesting around our house. . . .