2014 was the best year of our lives. (And, for 3 of us, the only year of their lives!)

From our family to yours, cheers to an unforgettable 2014 and wishes for a happy & healthy 2015!

We wore a lot of crazy outfits this week!

The boy’s had this longsleeve onesie with patches on the elbows and I finally realized that it went with these overalls. Hahaha. How awesome is this? Sammy wears it well.

Oh, this outfit. <3

These overalls are actually amazing, and not at all funny, but Steven didn’t want to be left out.

Playtime in our fun outfits! Brothers!!

Everyone!

Jason bought Steven, Sammy and Amaya new shirts. They were very excited to wear them! Sooooo cute. All we’re missing are cowgirl boots for Amaya. And these boys are little mini Jasons.

Sammy has new jammies! Amaaaaaaazing new jammies. Because he’s getting BIG. Well, really, long.

Sammy liked his PJ’s so much that he demanded some selfies.

And then Steven wanted to join in fun!

Finally, the best apparel of all… pants on the head!

This week, we celebrated the final nights of Haukkah.

Lighting candles on the 8th night.

On the 7th night, Nana was here to open presents from Uncle Austin and Aunt Dena.

Then, this weekend, Grandma Sunshine and Aunt Annette came over for holiday fun times.

Opening presents

Playing with presents!

Aunt Alysia was supposed to be here with cousins Nancy and Abe this weekend, too, but illness kept them in DC. It was sad, sad news and I kept hoping that there’d be a health miracle but, fortunately, we’ll see them all soon!

Some more photos from the week…

A daddy pile-on!

With my boys

My mom got this shot of me trying to get all 3 kiddos in a photo. It’s really hard to get them all to sit still at the same time these days!

Babies at the gate visiting daddy before breakfast bottles. (Check out Steven planking. He’s working so hard to figure out crawling.)

And again after breakfast bottles!

Bedtime babies tonight

Foooooood! This past week we had french toast for the first time. Mmmmm, mmmm good. I’m sure it would be even better with sugar or syrup but they’ll have to stick with cinnamon for now.

Jason got me this beauty for Hanukkah. My mom laughs at me (good naturedly) because it’s hard to believe I’m someone who’s excited about a food processor.

But look at what it does to fresh spinach in less than 10 seconds!

I’m going to be GREAT at adding veggies to food. Like zucchini and spinach lasagna.

And now some solo shots. I’m going to get crazy and mix things up by starting with Amaya this week.

Sassy

Serious Amaya with Serious Mommy

Megan and Amaya

Still sassy

First to find her nose!

Yup, sassy

Amaya has now figured out that, if she pulls a sleep sack to the edge of the crib, she can get the suckie. And she gets the biggest kick out of it!

Sammy!

Sammy loooooooves the donuts. In fact, now he crawls around with one in each. It’s so cute.

He go ahold of his bottle. If only he could do this all the time!

Blurry, but he’s too happy to leave this out.

Donut on his head!

And in his hands. Again. 🙂

Here, Sammy and I are trying out the car seat we’ll use on the plan on Friday when we go to NY together. We’re not doing lap babies anymore so, somehow, with a lot of planning, I’m going to fly alone with Sammy and get him on the plan and in the car seat in the seat next to me.

Steven!

Smiley, smiley Steven.

And also adventurous!

Before I leave you, a video of bedtime playtime with Steven, Sammy and Amaya. I will admit that I baited Amaya with a suckie for the sake of the video. Sorry Amaya!

Last but not least…ME! I went to Nordstrom on Saturday and spend a gift card on ME! It was my first trip to the mall without babies since they were born and, as much as I love being with Steven, Sammy and Amaya (so, so much), it was wonderful just doing something for ME.

Have a great week everyone!

Every Sunday, I’m shocked at how much happened the prior week! This week, I’ll start with our first Hanukkah! Obviously Steven, Sammy and Amaya don’t have a clue what’s going on but it’s never too early to start traditions.

We took some photos with gifts from Uncle Austin, Aunt Dena and Lavinia. The boys’ onesies say “My First Hanukkah” and Amaya’s says, “8 Crazy Nights.”

On Tuesday night, Megan had Hanukkah gifts for everyone. Their first to open and they loved them!

Then we lit the candles. It was unexpectedly emotional for me. There’s so much power in tradition.

Thank you to Aunt Sara and Uncle David for the amazing menorahs!

Earlier in the week (Monday), Steven and I had a quick visit to the dr to check out a cut on his finger that we worried might be infected. (It wasn’t.)

Wednesday was Megan’s birthday! Steven, Sammy and Amaya decided to take some photos holding letters that spell her name. Of course, after their great idea, they sure didn’t make it easy to take the photos. Here’s the gift they picked out.

And here’s one of the actual photos. Steven loooooooved that M. He threw his first temper tantrum when I tried to take it away.

So I didn’t.

Megan took this picture during the week and I think it’s perfect. She’s buried in babies! :

We love you, Megan! Happy birthday!

Now, Nana is here visiting! Yay!

Steven really loves his Nana.

Not only does she give great hugs but she’s a great play seat..

It’s story time!

By the way, this is what happens when we get new toys. It’s a pile on! (Thanks to cousins Joey & Nicole for this one!)

We’re still eating new foods. Today we tried blueberries. I cut them in half to make it easier for them to eat. Small round foods are too nerve wracking. They were served for breakfast with raspberries, pancakes and chicken. When we’re out of eggs, we improvise!

This week we also tried grilled cheese. Mmmmmm. They’re eating so well that today I had to make 2 sandwiches for them!

And we also had cod, battered, breaded and cooked up in the nuwave oven. It’s so easy to make and Steven, Sammy and Amaya loved it!

Here’s what the menu looks like this week. I’m still repeating foods for 3 or 4 days. It’s going to suck when they want day to day variety. Making food for a few days at once is so much easier than worrying about new food every day.

This afternoon, Steven and Sammy had some fun with Amaya’s beret. They wore it well!

Right now, baths are on Saturday evenings and Wednesday mornings. In between, we just do wipe downs. On Wednesday morning I decided to see how a bath would go if I bathed them separately without the bath seats instead of together, with the bath seats.

Overall, a big success. SSA are all sitting well enough to make it work but it’s definitely not a situation where I can turn away. I shut the babies I wasn’t bathing out of the bathroom so I could give all my attention to the baby in the bath. It felt more relaxed, though, because I could get each baby dressed outside in the nursery instead of applying lotion and diapering on blankets on the floor of the bathroom.

Here are some solo photos.

Steven first. This week, he figured out how to clap and TONIGHT he crawled, REALLY CRAWLED, for the first time. Yay Steven!!

Mommy & Steven

Wearing Chase’s winter hat

I’m guessing Chase was about 6 months old in this picture. I see a real resemblance between them!

Steven and Daddy.

And clapping! Yay!

Sammy

He’s a yoga star!

Megan and Sammy playing games together

Sammy and Daddy in the middle of the night

Sammy standing! He’s so proud of himself!

Once Amaya and Steven realized I was there, everyone wanted in on the action!

Amaya

Amaya and Megan

Amaya looooooooves her suckies. Steven and Amaya both use them to soothe at night and for naptimes and we only offer them in their cribs. Amaya’s become an expert at finding them on the floor and snagging them from cribs.

Wishing for a suckie.

Suckie!

Have a great week everyone!

I don’t know how it’s possible but Steven, Sammy and Amaya are 11 months old today. ELEVEN MONTHS! It feels both like yesterday and another lifetime ago that I was stuck in bed, uncomfortable, baking these three amazing humans.

Last night, before I went to bed, I was lying on the floor of their nursery in pure amazement that I have three babies and thinking about how lucky Jason and I are. I’m not sure it will ever sink in that this is our life!

Steven is a sweet little mush ball. He can clap, and go from siting to his belly, and he’s still army crawling but rocking on his hands and knees more regularly. Steven is still the most focused on small details. He can spend ages playing with a mountain dew bottle or the snap on a washcloth. He still doesn’t have any teeth! New, Steven claps!

Sammy made huge leaps in the last month. Within a week, he went from doing the worm to crawling, pulling to his knees and pulling to stand. As of yesterday, he can get to sitting by himself, too. Sammy has four teeth and it’s adorable. He’s a big ham and our most sensitive baby.

Amaya remains Miss Independent. She’s first at everything and I’m pretty sure she’s not far away from her first steps. She has 2 bottom teeth. Amaya is determined and focused. When she wants something, she’s going for it!

Happy 11 months, babies!

This week’s blog post starts off with a photo from last Sunday that I forgot to post last week. But it’s an appropriate start. You’ll see why in a minute!

Jason was having some fun with Steven. I’m pretty sure I asked him to put Steven’s pants on him. So he did. Hahaha.

And these pictures were of Jason on Thursday night after he got home from work. Steven, Sammy and Amaya love it when we get home from work. We’re instant celebrities. What we really need in those moments is an extra arm so we can lift all 3 babies into our lap at once.

But Friday morning started Jason’s big adventure. Megan was sick and I couldn’t stay home after being out sick for 2 days so Jason stayed home as solo!dad for the day!

Getting started with the morning bottles.

Playtime in the nursery.

Meal time!!

And here I am having a FaceTime lunch date with everyone!

Steven, Sammy and Amaya are lucky to have such an awesome daddy.

The fun continued on Saturday when Jason took Steven to the grocery store. Our first baby at Kroger!

Heading out. Where are we going, daddy?

There’s so much to see! Does he look like a big boy or what?

Does he know how to live, or what? Jason reports that Steven spent a good portion of the trip blissed out in the cart, hanging on to some mountain dew and staring at the ceiling. Even other customers mentioned how chill he was.

Meanwhile, at home, Sammy decided to pull himself to standing for the first time!

And then the fun continued with daddy.

On Friday night, Jason and I had dinner plans with our friends Doug & Sue Karsch. (Doug was Jason’s best man at our wedding.) Before we went out, the Karsch family came over to give Steven, Sammy and Amaya some gifts. Sports balls!

Each one of the Karsch kids has “adopted” one of our trio. The pairings are perfect.

Solid, steady men.

Goofballs!

Smarty, sassy women.

This week we had many more adventures with food!

Rotini with salmon and broccoli in alfredo sauce.

Steven enjoying a waffle with his eggs

Crab cakes!

This morning we tried raspberries.

And Sammy wore more of his avocado than usual.

For this week, I made feta and spinach egg fritters and I breaded some cod. Not pictured, I also made a turkey & 3 bean chili in the slow cooker. I barely turned the stove on before this fall. Now I’m a cooking machine!

More fun photos from the week.

Morning fun!

We decorated the playroom for Hanukkah!

The kids love it, especially the boys!

Playtime!

Yesterday I stepped out of the playroom for no more than 2 minutes and came back to this. Everyone had been playing quietly when I left.

Today was reasonably warm out so Steven, Sammy, Amaya and I headed to the mall for some holiday shopping. $5 valet parking is my friend.

It’s almost better at the mall when it’s busy because people have less time to stop and talk and there are more distractions to divert attention from “OMG THREE BABIES.” I mostly don’t mind the comments, even the random rude ones, but I do hate when people will walk alongside me to talk about my family. I end up diverting into random stores to escape!

And some photos of each kiddo.

Steven!

Notice the first picture with the brush in his hand and the 2nd picture when the brush was taken away. Someone is starting to throw tantrums!

Fortunately, there’s always someone to make it better.

Hahaha. I love this. Megan calls it Steven’s “Oh, my!” face.

He knows he’s cute. 😉

Sammy!

He spends a lot of time in downward dog.

In one week he figured out how to crawl (vs. doing the worm), how to pull himself to his knees and how to stand. Rapid fire progression!

So guess who else’s crib was lowered!

And Amaya!

Megan and Amaya, making faces.

Sassy, sassy, sassy.

Hahahaha. This outfit. Another amazing hand me down from big cousin Charlie.

Cutest cousins ever!

Have a great week!

Megan was on vacation Monday through Wednesday this past week. This time of year it’s very difficult us to take vacation days so Nana and Grandma Sunshine did tag team care duty for us!

Getting the day started

Waiting to eat. Thank goodness for our baby jail!

Happy babies, eating ravioli served with love

Nana played photographer before I left for work one morning

Busy, happy babies at play

Nana even found a fun toy that was waiting for us in the basement. We are so excited to play piano like our daddy!

Busy babies in the bath

Steven, Sammy and Amaya say, “Thank you for taking such good care of us, Nana and Grandma Sunshine!!”

This week, these awesome stools arrive in the mail from our forever friends, Mary and Dave Hartley. We can’t wait to use them. They’re sure going to come in handy when little people need to reach big places!

Megan returned on Thursday and baby development continued on it’s rapid pace.

Steven is still working on transitioning from army crawling to crawling regularly. It’s good to see him on his hands and knees. (Sammy, too!)

And he really wants to stand, but he’s not quite there yet.

Amaya, on the other hand, is pulling up on anything and everything! And she’s very proud of herself. As she should be! 🙂

In fact, we had to do an emergency night in the pack & play when we realized that Amaya was pulling to standing in her crib. My little girl is a big girl with her crib lowered to the lowest level. I only shed a few tears.

It was a BIG week for Steven! After his last orthotist check in we started wearing his helmet only at night but, on Thursday, he was released from the craniofacial surgeon. As Uncle Bob would say, Rocket J Squirrel is free!

We had lot of fun this weekend. These kids are starting to get into everything and nothing gets in their way, not even each other.

I was able to catch Amaya pulling up. Every day, she’s getting more and more steady.

Amaya wore a fun, fancy dress for a lazy Saturday.

Steven was adorable in these superhero overalls passed down from Chase

Here is trying to escape the playroom. I wonder who’s going to be first to try to scale the gate. (Kidding. We all know it will be Amaya.)

And the Sam Man wearing his Farmer Phil button down, also passed on from Chase.

See?

On Saturday evening, Jason shot a short video of me feeding SSA chicken in cream of mushroom sauce. They eat it best when I shred it, though this wasn’t necessarily the most efficient way to serve it. The chicken was followed by broccoli but, right now, I serve their protein before their veggie.

Finally, to the point of nothing stopping these babies. Amaya climbed clear over Jason. It was pretty amazing to watch.

What a week!! On Wednesday, Steven, Sammy, Amaya and I headed to NY for a long Thanksgiving weekend. We hated leaving Jason behind but were so excited to get back to NY to see friends and family.

Anna, who helps us on weekend nights, traveled with me. I’m ambitious but definitely not ambitious enough to try to fly with three 10 month olds by myself.

After some morning drama when I was upgraded to first class without the rest of our party (including Steven who was sitting in his own seat next to me), we got new seat assignments in the last row of the plane.

Steven didn’t mind, though. He was happy to have his own space in his own seat.

We had an unexpected in air adventure on the trip. About 30 minutes into our flight, the pilot announced that we were turning around due to a problem with the altimeter. We got so, so lucky on a tough travel day. Despite the detour back to MI, we were only 3 hours late getting into NY because there happened to be a new plane waiting for us just 2 gates over. Our flight attendant was awesome and carried 2 diaper bags and a backpack onto the new plane for us. A passenger helped carry Steven’s car seat off the plane. And they called us to board before they even announced it for the rest of the flight. It all worked out. A Thanksgiving miracle!

Next thing we knew, we were all playing at my mom’s house.

Everything was ready to go at the house. We had a baby jail all ready!

And 3 high chairs ready to go!

And it was Thanksgving day! Soooooooo much fun with family at Aunt Dale and Uncle Arnie’s house, dressed in our Thanksgiving finest.

Uncle Bob and the Sam Man

Aunt Dale and Miss Amaya

Steven, holding court

Sammy, with Uncle Dave and Chase

More family fun!

Uncle Arnie playing the exact same game I play with the kiddos.

And it was time for Thanksgiving dinner! I’d been waiting for this meal from the time Steven, Sammy and Amaya started eating solids. They did GREAT. They ate turkey, stuffing, broccoli and sweet potato. My amazing little eaters.

And we opened Hannukah presents – our Thanksgiving tradition with the Goldstein clan.

At the end of a long, wonderful day, we got even more excitement when we locked the car keys in the car with the engine running. Fortunately, we had jammies and bottles and Uncle Arnie and Aunt Dale ran out to get us some extra formula. Steven, Sammy and Amaya did great. Turns out, they don’t care where they are. They just want to eat and sleep on time. 🙂

On Friday, we had our first ever meal at a restaurant. A diner, in fact! Jason and I have eaten out with the babies in tow but this was the first time that Steven, Sammy and Amaya got to sit at the table and eat with us. Pancakes and eggs for everyone!! They were so cute sitting at the table eating their breakfast. <3

Later that day, we had a small group over for bagels and baby time.

Steven, with Papa Gene, Uncle Josh and Nana & Charlie.

Amaya, with Savta, Uncle Josh and Rachel.

Sammy, getting some mommy time, Chase time and Rachel time.

And a little old school camp fun with Bobo.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya got their first taste of bagel with cream cheese and lox! YAY!!

Amaya, of course, at it really well. She eats everything really well.

Saturday!

THIS FACE.

Happy Steven

With Auntie, who was a huge help all week. Along with Savta and Aunt Sara, Aunt Anita spent almost all day, every day at my mom’s house helping out.

Lots of time for family photos.

And suddenly it was Sunday…time to go home. This time the flight was a breeze. We got through security relatively easily and our flight was on time. Early, even!

Nana and Sammy on the plane (taken over my shoulder to the row behind me).

Sleepy Amaya! And a glimpse of the guy who sat down next to me, looked at Amaya in my lap and Steven in the window seat and said, “Looks like I got the worst seat on the plane.” Funny how he doesn’t seemed so bothered.

More Nana and Sammy time.

When we landed, we stopped to get lunch in the airport… for all of us.

Sammy tried his first pickle. Hahahaha. He wasn’t sure at first but then he dove in and finished most of the pickle. A boy after my own heart!

Amaya got in on the pickle action, too!!

Definitely my kids! We’ll have to give Steven a chance to try one soon, too.

And next thing you knew, we were home with Daddy where we all belong. <3 <3 <3

Megan is on vacation through Wednesday so Nana and Grandma Sunshine are taking care of Steven, Sammy and Amaya while Jason and I work this week. Just one more thing in a long list of things to be thankful for. (But come home soon, Megan! We all miss you!!)