The very First Birthday!

On Thursday, August 4, RALF-FRED-STEN turned 1!
Yes, first BIG birthday arrived... Of course the boys didn't get a clue what's going on (except a lot of guests all day long), but for me, it was an important date: I realized that we have really survived the 1st year with triplets; I'm still alive, I'm still relatively normal and even have quite a good mood (most of the time). Wow! I have to say I'm proud of myself, Erik and Kert.
Looking back - no, I wouldn't want to repeat it. I'll be more than satisfied if those boys will be my last set of triplets. I wouldn't want to go through it again, especially the first six months, when it always felt like I'm functioning at the edge of human limits. On the other hand, in a million years, I wouldn't imagine life without those cute little boys! They are truly wonderful, I just can't stop thinking how lucky I am that they came to our family and that I'm their mommy. When I look at them, all the hard times are forgotten...
The boys had loads of guests for their 1st birthday party and I think everyone had fun. It was good to see all our relatives, friends, small kids... and we were blessed with absolutely wonderful weather in August 4!
Now, for the next birthday, "only" 1 year to wait... and then our boys will have their terrible twos! :)

*PS - the teeth-growing has progressed a lot within the last month. Sten, who was having 0 teeth at the age of 11 months, ended up leading when the boys turned 1! He has 4 teeth now! Fred, who had the first 2 teeth early, is now in the last place, having only those 2 also at the age of 1. Ralf, is in the middle, with 3 teeth. :)*

Some photos from the birthday party:

In the morning, we had small kids with their mommies visiting the boys. There were Marju and Märten, Aune and Glen, Birgit and Kaspar, Merje and Melissa:
In this photo, you can see 5 children, who were born premature (we all met in the NICU unit of birth hospital, all born on 32nd week of pregnancy), all of them are now healthy 1-year-old boys and girls:
Some of our "mid-day" guests (who luckily stayed also for the afternoon party) - our Nanny's daughters Matilde and Emmeline, I and Fred, Eda with her sons Mihkel and Märt:
THE BIRTHDAY CAKE (made by daddy):
Starting to sing for the boys "Happy Birthday" song:
Now, we prepare for blowing off the 1st candle on the cake, the boys are with grandma (Sten), uncle Martin (Fred) and daddy (Ralf):
Boys on the swing:
Grandparents with grandchildren:
Party place - our garden (as you see - perfect weather):

9 months old

The boys turned 9 months old yesterday!

I baked a cake for them and we had quite a big birthday party with grandparents and uncle-aunts (we also celebrated my 35th birthday, yes I'm already THAT old!). The boys enjoyed the party and I'm happy that now they are big enough not to be irritated of crowdy house from time to time. They often didn't mind at all that the girls (Emily, Anna and Lisanne) sometimes made big noise; Ralf even fall in his small nap in the living-room just like every day.

We have not been to the doctor for 2 months (and it will be postponed for 2 more weeks because of my unexpected work-obligations which I couldn't change), but at home we weigh the boys and Ralf, the biggest milk-eater, is now 8,7 kg, Fred, quite a good eater, too (but easily vomits) is now 8,5 kg and Sten, a never-hungry-boy, 8,3 kg. I think they all are around 74 cm tall as they wear clothes of this size and they fit now perfectly.

I have intended to write a post about boys' characters, but even right now, I cannot really differiante their characters a lot. Who smiles the most? They are all smily. Sometimes people think that Sten smiles the most, but this is because he is smiling to all people at once. With me, Ralf smiles the most. Who is the most quieter? Sometimes it's Sten, but when he gets tired, then he is crying over anything, even when you touch him. Sometimes it's Ralf when he is swinging in his sitter (he can do it for hours if we let him to) and sometimes it's Fred as he loves to play on the floor for a very long time (not always, of course). Who is the most patient? Again, depends on the mood. I can only tell who is the biggest eater: definitely Ralf! And it shows in his face, too! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my darlings!

All my darlings together: my own 4 children and niece Lisanne + Erik's nieces Emily and Anna

4 birthday cards and me

This year, I got four lovely handmade cards for my birthday from my dear friends. I love handmade birthdaycards, so I'm happy to present them here:
MARTINA's CARD:

EDA's CARD:

ANNETTE's CARD:

JOKE's CARD:

And finally, me on my birthday with some of the flowers I got from family, co-workers etc:

Kert - 14

Yesterday, on February 25th, Kert turned 14 years old. We had his boys' party a day before - on February 24th, which is also the birthday of our country, and therefore, a bank holiday. This year, we decided to do something else than what the traditional party looks like (cart-driving); and we decided to offer the boys an adventure in the snowy forest to play paintball. The day was really snowy and I think it was a fun for them as well as Erik. Later, we took the boys to our home to have pizza and cake. A tiresome but nice day for Kert! :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the best-ever son!

Photo: Our house on the morning of 24th February with Estonian flag

Photo: Getting ready for paintball. All wearing the US Navy costumes

Photo: Paintball guns where winter bullets are used

Photo: The teams are ready to play!

Photo: And now it starts...

10 weeks

Today, our little sweet neighbour boy Glen has turned 10 weeks old. We have just returned from his birthday party; and this is the cake I baked for him for his important birthday! The photo below is with his eldest sister Inger (photographed by Aune).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Baby news

Today, 22nd of November, is the happiest day of 2009 for our neighbours - early in the morning, their 4th child was born - a little baby boy!

This beautiful boy is a special baby also for me - from the start, I've shared all the joys and worries of Aune's pregnancy day by day. And all the worries have disappeared now, when a healthy beautiful baby boy was born and made everyone's heart full of joy... Including mine and Erik's. Congratulations to happy parents!

We've already met the baby in the hospital and hope they will come home very soon!

Photo: The card I made for the baby

Photo: A little box with some small presents for the baby

Happy Birthday, Aleandra!

My little friend Aleandra (our neighbour girl) turned 7 years old today. She had a cute birthday party today and hopefully enjoyed all her presents! Here is my card for her and some photos from her party. Her cake was just so fancy and very delicious, too!

Happy Birthday, my niece!

Lisanne - my first niece - had her 1st birthday today. She is the most goregous little girl! It has been so lovely to watch her growing from new-born to a little girl throughout this year. I still remember so well when she was born and I saw her for the first time... she was such a cute baby-girl with long legs, and she is just as pretty right now, too...

Even when she doesn't walk, yet, she is improving a lot in this matter day by day and I'm quite sure that it's only a few weeks till she is running away from all of us.

We have been to her birthday party today, where all her relatives were present. And already this week, she'll go on her first holiday trip - to Crete. I hope she enjoys it!

Photo: Lisanne and her birthday cake to celebrate the 1st birthday

Photo: Lisanne with her cake

Photo: Lisanne sitting in her eating chair with the present bag we gave for her

Photo: My self-made card for Lisanne

Photo: Some presents Lisanne had for her birthday. We gave the pink Hello Kitty dress,another dress (the first one in right), and some pair of trousers.

Happy birthday to Aune

Today, it's Aune's (my neighbour) birthday and I know she has had a great day. Here is the card for her birthday as well as the flowers I picked from my garden:

We have already been to her birthday celebrations, too, today morning with a delicious sandwich-cake and a biscuit-cake as a dessert.

Birthday cards

It's been a long time since I have posted any birthday-cards I've made this Spring. Surely my friends have had birthdays and here are some of the cards:

This card went for Ragnar and he is having his birthday actually today:

This card had some more versions and I sent them to a few of my friends, but I think those two went to Piret (the Estonian version) and to Heike (the English version):

The hepatica-card had two version, too, one went to my mom and another to Erik's uncle:

And this card was for my ex-boss Anu: