Two and a half

I can't believe that I am actually writing this, but my boys are TWO AND A HALF. What?!?! When did that happen? I still find myself calling them my "babies". The last two and a half years seemed to have flown by. They are all growing so much and looking like such big kids now. It doesn't help that most of the clothes they're wearing are big kid styles.

Birth order - Stokes, Ryan and William

My triplets - 3 Peerys in a pod

Can you believe that those two pictures are the best I could get? Pitiful. These little guys cannot sit still for more than a second and I can't get them to all look and smile at the same time - sounds like a broken record, doesn't it?!?!

Here's a breakdown of what everyone is doing these days.

Stokes
He's still a wild thing! He keeps us on our toes and he keeps us laughing. He is so darn funny! He does and says the craziest and most hilarious things. His sense of humor is awesome. He is the most ticklish little guy and just loves to laugh out loud. He's very athletic and agile and strong! He is already working on pull ups - he pulls up on the counter, the wash cloth bar in the bathtub, and basically anything else that he can use to develop his athletic dominance. We're still seeing a lot of improvement in his speech and he will just talk and talk away. I don't know half of what he's saying, but I guess that's par for the course. His voice is a little raspy and very, very cute. He talks A LOT about cars and possession of cars. He's constantly saying, "Mama's car", "Dada's car", "MaSha's car", etc - you get the picture. He's so obsessed with cars that he's starting to recognize the makes and models. Seriously! He will see another lovely Honda Odyssey minivan (like mine) and he will immediately point and call it "Mama's car". Another example is one day not too long ago, we were walking around the neighborhood and he saw a Honda CRV in someone's driveway. He pointed and said, "Ashley's car", and he was correct! Ryan's PT, Ashley, drives a CRV. I was blown away that he pays that much attention and the extent to which he will notice details....about cars. Along the same lines, he has a little truck in which he will ride around the house. As a matter of fact, it is his favorite mode of transportation. He seriously picks up speed in that thing and will zoom around corners and basically burn rubber (plastic) all through the downstairs. It's really comical! Stokes's favorite song is Tiger Song (aka Tiger Rag, the Clemson fight song). I started a tradition during football season to play it on my phone first thing in the morning on gamedays. Well, it became an instant favorite around here and Stokes will ask for me to play "tiger song" anytime he sees my phone. As my firstborn, I still think he's taking up the role of the alpha male and will occasionally hit or push his brothers, or just take a toy right out of their hands. He does get in trouble for this, and I know it's typical brother and toddler behavior, but he's still a bit of a bully. He doesn't seem to mind timeout and will march himself right up to the "timeout corner" and put his forehead against the wall until we tell him he can come back - sometimes with tears, sometimes without. Stokes is our pickiest eater and it's totally up in the air which meals he will eat a lot and those that he might just want a bite or two before he refuses any more. He gets rather vocal at meals when he's "all done!!!!" and will hand over his plate, fork and milk and ask demand that we take off his tray so he can get out of his high chair as soon as he's done eating. He prefers to come sit on my lap as I'm feeding Ryan. And if I keep his plate on the table in front of him, he'll usually end up finishing his meal while he's sitting on my lap (spoiled little thing!). His favorite food is any type of snack - goldfish, crackers, chips, etc. He will sneak into the pantry and stuff handfuls of goldfish into his mouth while I'm cooking dinner. He loves giving hugs and kisses, and he's a pretty good little kisser, too! He will pucker right up and is not shy about blowing kisses either. There's so much more that I can say about Stokes.  He just brings me so much joy and cracks me up. He's truly an entertaining and one-of-a-kind kid.

Getting measured (while "cheesing" for
my camera)

A cute recent picture (and yes, don't judge but we still bust
out our Christmas apparel on occasion)

Ryan
Want to talk about a sweet baby? Well that would be my Ryan. Anyone that meets him instantly falls in love with him. He has a pure heart of happiness and it radiates through him. Seeing Ryan smile or especially hearing him laugh is one of the best things ever. There are so many random things that will make him laugh and it varies day to day. Something that cracks him up one day will only elicit a smile the next. I wish I knew the secret code to what would make him laugh because I would keep it on repeat all day, every day. His laugh is just full of joy. He will hand out smiles flippantly but getting a real belly laugh can sometimes take some work, but if you get it, it's totally worth it...and then some! Ryan continues to amaze us with his positive attitude, work ethic and sweet nature. He has therapy appointments every day of the week except for Wednesday and is ready and willing to work at each and every one of them, with very few exceptions. His therapists all just love him and continue to be encouraged by the progress he's made and is making and I feel like they all go the extra mile for him. I have developed really great relationships with all of them, with the exception of Barbara and only because she's so new so I've really only been around her 3 times or so, but have no doubt we will get closer and closer at each appointment. I feel very comfortable in talking to each of them about any struggles we're facing or concerns that I have - about him or his brothers. They've all been so very supportive and have gone above and beyond for us on many occasions. Ryan's still in the process of mastering his crawl, and he still prefers to "army crawl" to get somewhere faster, and is also working on balance for standing as well as walking. He's graduated from a bottle to a NUK sippy cup (which was a good transitional cup for him) and now is pretty much full-time on a honey bear sippy cup, which is a straw cup and an upgrade in terms of development. Ryan has so much love and affection towards his Dad and me and also his brothers. He loves getting attention from us or them and he will beam when his brothers hug or kiss him or even if they just try to play with him a little. We're always encouraging that and I know that his brothers will eventually become very protective of Ryan and will always be looking out for him. He makes me proud each and every single day and is such a gift and a blessing. You know, sometimes, I will get a little down about his diagnosis and some of the daily struggles he faces, but it's important to keep everything in perspective. He's a healthy little boy, without a feeding tube or breathing tube, he's mobile, he has a fantastic attitude and we aren't having to deal with aggressive behavior like some other kids with similar issues have, he sleeps well and shows very little (if any) side effects from his medicine and overall is doing really well. We have so much to be thankful for and grateful for when it comes to Ryan, and really all of our kids, but we're most keenly aware of it with Ryan...if that makes sense. Ryan lights up my world.

Getting measured

Such a sweetie!

William
When I ask him who is my "babiest baby", he will pipe right up with "William!", which sounds more like Will-wum. I know that babiest baby isn't a real phrase, but that's how I describe my last born little guy. William is incredibly affectionate and loves to be snuggled/squeezed, kissed, held, and I could go on. One of his favorite things to do is to watch TV (pronounced tee-bee), and although I don't let him watch it much, he could probably sit there for 5 hours straight watching TV without a complaint. William is such a great sleeper. Sometimes, actually fairly often, we have to wake him up after his afternoon nap because he will just keep on sleeping! His brother will be up and playing with toys and he just keeps on snoozing. I break down and wake him up when it's approaching a four hour nap! When he wakes up in the morning, he's very content to just hang out in his crib with the blanket and his stuffed animals until I come in to get him. He must have a strong sense of comfort attached to his bed, and I like that! He's a pretty good eater, especially at breakfast and is definitely the carb fan. He loves bread and will whine for it if there is any in his sight. Speaking of whining, he's approaching the closest thing to the "terrible twos" in terms of emotional outbursts and tantrums and such between the three of them. He will get very upset when he doesn't get his way and tears follow, along with sometimes falling to the floor, whining and even screaming. It's all very dramatic, I tell you. William love, love, loves the Clemson Tigers and will talk about them a lot. He makes tiger growling noises and anytime sports is on TV, he will point and say "tigers!" We have the 2015 football schedule hanging on our fridge and it has a picture of the quarterback, Deshaun Watson, on it. William knows Deshaun's name and can tell you that he plays for the Tigers and that he's the "best"! William loves to spend time with his brothers and definitely pays Ryan the most attention and will "join" Stokes in timeout on occasion. He's a true extrovert and is the greeting committee at our front door whenever anyone comes over. The other day we were at brunch and he reached right up to a waitress to get her to hold him! He never meets a stranger (we will work on stranger danger in the near future). William loves books and is happy as a clam to just sit down with a book and look through and turn the pages. I love that. Not only that, but he really loves to read about Jesus. We have several versions of children's Bible storybooks and he will pick one out, bring it over to me and ask me to read about Jesus. Do you hear that? That's the sound of my heart melting. Along those same lines, he loves to say the blessing before meals (God is great) and at bedtime (Now I lay me). We get a loud "AMEN" from him after each prayer or blessing. He has a good memory and not only can he say most of the words to God is great, he can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the Wheels on the Bus, and several other little songs and rhymes. He's just now gotten to the point where he's recognizing colors - they all used to be yellow (or "lellow") if you were to ask him - but he's getting them mostly all right now. William is a joy to be around and is very charismatic. People are just drawn to him and his sweet personality. He will forever be my "babiest baby" and I love him dearly.

Getting measured

At the park last weekend - just look at that smile!

Outtakes: