Happy Father's Day

It goes without saying that my kids have the greatest father there ever was. I realize this even more now that we have added three more to the bunch. Never in a million years would I have imagined us as the parents of triplets plus two, and now here we are. God sure knew what he was doing when he matched up these two best friends. We had a little nudging along the way (thank you Jamie and CJ!), but I couldn't have asked for a better father to my 5 precious children. Thank you Rich for being the terrific Dad that you are! We love you!

I am also blessed with a fantastic Dad, myself. Thanks for taking such great care of us. For all the grocery runs, carpooling, baby holding, guitar lessons, mystery trips,etc. You are the best!



Here are some pictures from the last week:

Grandpa D and his Crew

Emma at 6 going on 16!

Addie Roo

Elaina and Aunt Kari

Ava

Me and the girls
Grandma F

Five Months

Addison, Ava (remember the "Cesaer"cut?), Elaina

The girls turned 5 months old last Saturday, and what a week of firsts! Elaina started rolling over that same day and hasn't stopped since. Ava seems close, too - may be any day now. I fed Addison and Elaina their first bites of cereal just for kicks and they had no problems with it. I'm not making a habit out of it quite yet because it's just more work for me. I'll drag it out as long as I can for now!

Since we are still working on the sleep issues with Ava (since her ear infection), we started putting her to bed in her own little space in our nice, quite and dark closet. Wouldn't you know - she didn't make a peep until 7am! I couldn't believe that I woke up on my own at 4am and actually felt refreshed - what a change! It's amazing what 6 hours of sleep can do. I dream of the nights of 9 hour sleeps!

The girls are getting too big for their little tub now - so I gave them their first baths in the big tub. They just seem like their getting so old now! Won't it be nice when we can do them all at once! What a trip that will be!

We also took the whole family to church on Sunday for the first time! This was something we had been looking forward to for a long time, but didn't want to chance it over the winter months. Hello, SUMMER! It's a little tricky getting everyone in the door - but aside from that, it was great! I love having our whole family together after so many months of taking turns.

Another first was Luke learning to ride his bike without the training wheels last friday. I think he wasn't enjoying practicing on his sister's Barbie bike - so as soon as Rich took the wheels off of his own bike he took off within seconds. That's a boy for ya!

Summer is officially starting this friday at 11:30am. Emma will be done with school - and I will spend my days at home with our 5 kids. Let the challenge begin!

Elaina's 1st boyfriend

"Eat your heart out, girls!" Playtime
Elaina's 1st rollover

City Girl Rides a Pony!

Emma riding "Derby"

She did it! My sweet 6 year old daughter who has been scared of (most) living things for her entire life actually rode a pony for the first time this week! Normally this would not be a topic of interest - but seeing as she is quite shy around animals - I was very impressed! She even told me, "Mom, all I want to do now is ride horses!". Quite a change when we actually allow ourselves to try something new or out of the ordinary. Maybe we should all do this sometime!

The babies went in for their "4 month" check up last week and continue to do amazingly well! Elaina is at the top of the charts now - surpassing her fluffy sister Addison in weight! Sweet petite Ava is still holding her own at the 55% mark, while her sisters are in the 85th! Elaina is 15lb. 7oz., Addison is 15lb. 6oz., and Ava is 13lb 10oz. Keep it up girls!

Big Girls in the Exersaucers!

Four(ish) Months!

(Addie,Elaina, Ava)

So, it's been a while since we've posted some pictures. We've had a lack of sleep as of late - and exhaustion has led to a lack of blogging. The girls had been sleeping "through the night" - from 9:30 pm to 5:30 am, and then regressed to waking up at 2 am again! Not fun when there are 3 babies and you're trying to keep the other two from waking up too. Turns out Ava had an ear infection which developed with her cold/congestion, and now she's getting used to the attention in the wee hours of the night. I pray we are on the upswing of things again! We got the kids pictures taken this week at a Tulip Farm in Holland - quite a task with 5 kids (3 babies). They actually turned out pretty cute. I'll see if I'm able to post one once we get them back. Here are a few recent pictures:

Luke EmmaAddison
Ava

Elaina

Baptism

The girls were baptized Sunday night by their great Grandpa Rozenboom (Rich's Grandpa). Rich sang "Find Your Wings" by Mark Harris, which is a very special song to us. It's the song that was playing on the radio as I drove home from the doctor's appointment when I found out I was pregnant with triplets. The words are so meaningful to me and I bawled as I drove home that day - and I knew I could make it through with God's help. And here we are now - having a baptism for our precious gifts! God is good!
Grandpa and Grandma D
Great Grandma and Grandpa Rozenboom
Grandma F
The Girls and Grandparents

Spring Break Fun

All the kids at Great Wolf Lodge

Bumbo Girls
(Addison, Ava, Elaina)

We had a chance this past weekend to get away with some friends to the Great Wolf Lodge. We took Emma and Luke, and left the girls in good hands at home. We had such a great time and the kids loved being with friends and riding all the slides all day! We split the girls up with our parents, and Rich's sister and we were anxious to see how they would do as individuals. It was great to hear that Addison was able to sleep until 7 am! We're still working on the other 2!

The girls are going to be baptized this Sunday night at our church. We are amazed at all that has happened in the past 11 months of our lives, and are so thankful to God for being with us every step of the way. To God be the Glory!

Spring Has Sprung!

We have had some beautiful days this weekend, and the girls finally got a chance to try out the "limousine"! We got out as a family for a walk/bike ride and just enjoyed this much anticipated spring weather. Rich and I realized on our short time out, that it's going to be hard to get used to the stares and gasps from strangers. We have been pretty isolated this winter and now we are ready to break free! Bring it on!