6 Years and 6 Months

September was a big month in our house. The Triplets’ birthday is kind of like a national holiday with all the excitement and anticipation involved. I really love celebrating those kids. I’m truly enjoying this stage I am in with them. They are genuinely fun company, and while still young children with all that involves, I have so much fun watching them learn and grow. It never ceases to amaze me how much a year can change their little faces. But even more so this time around. Something about this past year feels different. Maybe it’s the losing teeth, or cutting hair, a baby in the house, or all day school, but my little ones were all of the sudden replaced with big kids. But like I’ve said before, the trade off for kids growing too fast, is that there are other great things about them being older. Each one of them has shown so much growth this year.  Ruby is a little natural mommy with the baby, and sometimes even takes care of me by doing things like putting a blanket on me when I’m having a much needed rest on the couch. Bennett is the first to apologize when I’m upset, and has grown so much in the compassion department, as he tries to be mindful of peoples’ feelings. When Alex sets out to do something, he finishes it. He doesn’t do anything half way, and he’s always creating something new and awesome. They are best friends as anyone can clearly see, and I will always love that they have each other.
On their big day, the kids woke up to streamers, balloons, birthday cereal, and a counter full of of presents. They were beyond thrilled. My kids decorate for even the least formal occasions, so I knew they’d appreciate a little effort on their special day. The got to celebrate a day early at school. 
They were so happy with the things they were given. Especially the cotton candy machine. I may have purchased it for myself as well. We definitely had fun with that thing all morning. What’s a birthday without a lot of sugar?
We decided not to do a big friend birthday party this year, but still celebrated as a family. The kids had been begging to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s for months, and the promise was always that we’d go on their birthday. Unfortunately for us, their birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so we knew the chaos would be amped up on the weekend. But we armed ourselves with as much patience as possible and fulfilled our promise. It really helped that mom was in town that week. She pretty much took over baby duty while we wandered with the kids. It was insane there, but the kids couldn’t have had more fun. Phew. Checked that one off the list.
I made a very simple cake this year, but of course my easy pleasers still loved it. There were a few kids from our street playing outside so we passed out pieces to them, and the kids thought that was great. Like how simple I’ve kept things this year? I do.
The rest of the day was spent playing with friends and new toys, and eating more cotton candy. They all said they feel totally different being a year older, and will make an announcement about it to anyone they pass on the street. They truly make the most out of life and I love them to death.
Also earlier this month, my baby girl turned 6 months old. Half a year! What felt like an eternity during pregnancy was like an instant with her here. I never blog enough about my little love. Probably because I Instagram her like crazy (sorry followers, but not too sorry because when the Chatbooks arrive, I’m always so happy I overgrammed!) I can’t even explain how much I have absolutely loved having her in my life these past 6 months. From the moment I see her face light up with that perma-grin when I get her out of bed, to the moment  I lay her down and she snuggles into her favorite position to sleep at night, I’m just so, so happy she’s here. She’s just so content, even when she’s tired, and will smile at anyone who looks at her. We have less pleasant moments, of course, but they are few and far between. She naps like a dream, two or three hours as a time, which is so wonderful while the kids are in school, and I get a little quiet time myself. While she gave hints that she was starting to sleep through the night when she was a few months old, we had some setbacks and she never really caught on. So we’ve been sleep training at night lately and while I HATE it, I know it’s for the best. It’s so easy to justify feeding a baby in the night when there’s just one to get up with, but she’s starting to take advantage and wakes up more than she should, so she’s been doing better now that we’ve been showing a little tough love, and I’m sure having a full nights sleep will make us love each other even more, if that’s possible.
I love having her tag along when I’m out and about. She probably makes errands even more fun than when I’m alone with her cute face to stare at the whole time. I love strapping her on and being able to kiss her head any time I want. Her siblings can never seem to kiss her enough either. Anytime I bring her into a room, they stop what they are doing to hug and kiss and smother her. Ruby has been making her laugh a lot lately, and it’s just the best watching them interact. She loves to roll all over the place and will put anything within reach in her mouth, her feet being a favorite. The new sounds she makes everyday are so sweet. It’s so precious when she touches my face and plays with my hair while she nurses. She’ll also take a bottle when we give her one, and is starting to get the hang of solids. She get’s so excited when she gets in the bath, and she shows it by splashing away as she kicks her little legs in the water. When I take her out to eat, she plays happily in her car seat the whole time. That’s my sweetheart in a nutshell, and I get butterflies everyday thinking about how much I love that beautiful baby girl. I’m just having the time of my life with her.

Happy 6 months to my little dolly.