Happy Halloween from the Three Little PIgs!!!

I tried on their costumes for tonight and they just kept staring at each other.  So cute!
 Addy:  "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin Hailey!"
Emily - Addy - Hailey
Happy Halloween!  We're going to attempt to Trick or Treat tonight...we'll post more pics later!  And the three little piggies would like to wish their friend Christina, their cousin Andrew, and their Great Aunt Dawn a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  Love you all!  

First words

Who do you think is the first one to say their first words???!!1

Little Miss Hailey gets the prize.  :)  Her first words are "Na-Na" for "No - No"  and "Uh-Uh-Oh" for "Uh-oh".  Kinda funny that THOSE are the words she must hear the most often.  :)  And then she also will go "Oo -oo-oo" for barking like a doggy.  :)  It is so fun now that you can SEE them learning!  

The girls are sure getting into trouble though lately!  I found Emily in the toybox one day.  Then I found Addison on the 5th stair one day....and then I found bite marks on Hailey's forehead from Addison one day...  I can't let them out of my site!  It's a whole different ballgame now!  They don't like to be gated anymore....but if I don't gate them...I get such a work out all day!  

Here's Emily in the toybox.  

And this is what the girls want to do as soon as Daddy gets home from work.  So cute!  But he never knows who to greet first! 

I just get a kick out of the girls.  When I leave the girls in the playroom and come back, I always find them TOGETHER.  It's so cute!  They could be playing in all different corners of the room with different toys but they are always playing together!  

Iowa

Hi there!  Well, what a weekend we had.  Friday morning we left for Iowa with the girls.  We went to Dordt to visit my brother and sister...it was parents weekend so my parents were there too...my relatives live there..Ryan's relatives live there....and Ryan's grandma was having an 80th bday party!  So we were busy....but it was great to see everyone!  But, we should have known from the start that it was a BAD idea to drive during the DAYLIGHT all the way to northwest Iowa with 3 one year olds.  :)On the way there, I thought I was literally going to pull out all of my hair.  The girls (mostly Addy) did NOT like being in their carseat.  Nothing would soothe her...she probably cried for 3 hours straight cuz there was nothing we could do.  Let me tell you it wears on you when you're in a small space, trying to drive, with a baby screaming and the other 2 keep dropping their nuks or toys and I'd have to crawl (with limited space) again and again to the back seat to entertain them, pick up toys, etc.  Last time we made that trip it was MUCH easier because we traveled at night, and they liked to sleep a lot of the time!  Plus, stopping to feed 3 bottles is a lot easier than stopping to feed messy bananas, peas, and carrots, etc.  Our usual 7 1/2 hour trip took almost 10 hours!  Good thing that Mom & Dad Dooyema caravanned with us.  They were a big help when we would stop!  Anyways, it was good to see everyone and the way home was MUCH better because most of it was at night again.  Let's just say we may wait a few years before we do a quick weekend trip like that again. :)     

Here's "most" of my family.  Dad, Ry, soon to be bro in law Cory, sister Kara, Mom, me, and brother Kyle
Grandma Gwen with her granddaughters who were just really sad to say goodbye to her. :) 
Great Grandma with Addy
We had to stop at the amazing Pizza Ranch on the way home.  Here's Hailey on the horse.  
And here's Ryan's grandparents with Hailey, Emily, and Addy.  Happy 80th Birthday Great Grandma!! :) 

Beautiful Fall!

Happy Fall!  This Fall in Wisconsin has been GORGEOUS.  Love it!  78 and sunny today isn't bad at all! :)  Here's some pics of our little punkin's. :)  

Emily, Addy, Hailey
Addison
Emily
Hailey
Ryan and I never take pictures of us anymore! :)  We celebrated Ryan's 28th birthday on Saturday.  I had so much fun surprising him!  I woke him up early and told him to open his present which he was NOT excited about doing at 6:10 a.m.  But then once he opened it, my note said he had a tee time THAT morning!  Funny how he POPPED out of bed in an instant then.  :)  So that was his first surprise...and then Sat. night we went out to dinner downtown...and then when we got there...a bunch of our friends were there to surprise him too!  I LOVE HIM!
Addison, Emily and Hailey with their new babies and strollers. :) 
They seriously do this ALL the time.  :) 
Little Miss Emily getting into trouble.  I came into the playroom and this is what I see...Emily on the top step of the slide.  Didn't even know she could get up there.  She wasn't scared at all though! :) 

Walking?

I have a question for everyone.  What classifies officially "walking?"  At what point do you mark it in the baby book as officially walking?  Is it 5 steps? 7 steps?  5 steps with a couple pivot turns?  Just curious as it seems like everyone can classify it differently. :)  Emily has done all of the above...but I'm not quite sure it's official "walking" yet.  :)  Is it only considered walking if she no longer crawls but walks everywhere, all the time?  Or are there just different stages going from crawling, cruising, stepping, then walking?  As you can tell I'm a first time mom. :)  Any comments/opinions would be appreciated! :)   

"Soulja" Girl?

This is what goes down in the Dooyema house when Auntie Kara babysits. :)  

BIRTHDAY FUN!

Whew!  What a weekend!  I think the girls had a great birthday weekend.  I know we did.  :)  First of all, on their actual birthday, Ryan, Kara, and I took the girls out to eat for the very first time at a regular restaurant.  We opted for the new Claim Jumper in town. (which by the way is a great place to bring kids for anyone who has a little one!  They give you a plate of food for free for your kid!  So great!)  Anyways, so the girls made a humungous mess but overall, they did pretty good!  We ate pretty fast and it wasn't your typical peaceful, relaxing night out for dinner...but we did have fun and it was great to try it for the first time. :)  Here we are waiting to be seated. :) 

Then, we had a birthday party with 40 friends, family, neighbors, and NICU nurses!  Needless to say, we had a house full of love and celebration. :)  I do have to say though that it is a challenge trying to be the mom, the hostess, and the photographer!  The girls each got their own cake like any normal kid would...and I decorated everything with "their colors" that they've had since they were born.  

(below) I hung up their preemie outfits for decoration.  I still can't believe they fit in those.  :) 

Surprisingly, the girls didn't even notice they had hats on.....
Alright - and here's the info that everyone is dying to hear.  The cake.  :)  Well, it's pretty funny that they all reacted differently - just like their little personalities.  :)  Hailey - well, she pretty much freaked out when all 40 faces were staring at her and laughing and watching the girls eat.  She had a meltdown  - poor girl.  She just wanted to eat her cake in peace with no one watching her.  I don't blame her! :)  Don't worry - later on in the night she did get to her cake and ate a lot of the frosting. :) 
Addy on the other hand is a lot like her dad.  She LOVES food and will pretty much clear every little crumb off of her tray when she eats at mealtime.  Cake was no different.  She dug right in and ate a TON of it . She smiled the whole time....and she even tried to reach over and steal Emily and Hailey's cake as well.  She was a mess!!!  :) 

And sweet Emily - she just stared at her cake for a while at first and had to get used to the idea.  She was very detailed and observant about the whole thing like she usually is.  Then, she preferred to be fed in the more ladylike fashion. :)  With a spoon. :) 

Addy started dancing when everyone sang happy birthday...

Then, today we had their 2 hour long Dr. appt for their one year check up.  The girls are doing amazing as far as growth goes!  They are right in line with a normal one year old for height, weight, etc!  So great!  Here's the latest weigh ins:

Addison 22 lbs 1 oz.

Emily 20 lbs. 10 oz.

Hailey 20 lbs. 12.5 oz.  

And as far as development goes, they continue to do AMAZING and VERY well for 31 week preemies.  However, their development is still right in line with a 10 month old which is totally normal as we shouldn't expect them to fully catch up to babies born at full term until they are 2 years old.  Overall, they are doing fabulous though and have I told you that I love them?! :)  

Happy 1st Birthday to our 3 beautiful miracles...

Wow - their FIRST birthday.  I am just in shock today as I really can't believe that a whole year ago today, I was having mega pain and tons of contractions and giving BIRTH to these precious girls.  And now, I am so pumped to know that Ryan and I actually made it through the first year with them!  (Thanks to SOO much help from so many of you!) What an incredible journey it's been..

Happy Birthday Addy Girl!  We are in awe that one year ago today, she came into this world.  Today,  we are celebrating our precious Addison Lee.  Her perfect little giggle is contagious and we adore how she loves to laugh so easily.  We've also come to know that she is great with her feet - always kicking, she loves balls and she is great at making eye contact with people.   We also find it very interesting that she loves her space.  :)  Even when she was inside of me, she got used to her "own space" and now she does this cute little 360 turn when her sisters are in "her space."  She has been so much fun to watch this past year as she has grown so much and changed so much.  At first, she was so laid back and "chill" and now, she is spazzy and hyper at times!  She is into everything and she loves  wrestling on the floor with daddy.  She loves to eat and it's so cute listening to her say "mmm" while she eats.  We wonder if Addy will always hate shoes...or if that will change.. :)  We are enjoying every moment with her and we look forward to many more years of discovering who God has made her to be. We love you SO much Addy!!!!

Emily - "Em Babe" Our dear Emily has always been the fearless one.  :)  Even when she was only 3 lbs 1 oz, teeny tiny in her isolette, she was the one to pull out her feeding tube and oxygen from her nose as if she knew she could go without it even though SHE had the most weight to gain.  And now, a year later, Emily is the one to explore everything.  She is our adventurous one.  She falls, and she doesn't even care.  And now, she was the first to take 2 steps.  We know she is going to keep our lives very interesting and full of life.  She has so much energy which amazes me because she was the one that I felt kicking me the most when she was inside of me.  She is also fearless in the way that she is never shy about giving out smiles - even to complete strangers.  Emily is also very detailed and observant.  She notices everything!  We love who she has become in the past year and we are so incredibly thankful for all of the joy that she brings into our lives.  You are such a blessing Emily!  Happy Birthday honey!!!!

Hailey - Our baby girl Hailey.  We love her so much!!!  We still can't believe that we have had the privilege of knowing her for a whole year now.  Seems like just yesterday that she was laying in her isolette looking sooo angelic.  She is such a sweetie and we LOVE her smile and her spunky personality.  She can be a little comedian at times with all of her funny faces...(she crinkles her face up and looks at you and then breathes in and out really fast through her nose - so cute) :)  and she loves making herself known and heard (Hailey is known to yell out high pitched squeals just to get your attention) :) We absolutely love it when she crawls all over us on the floor and we love that she always want to be where the action is.  Hailey is a big fan of hide and go seek and she makes us smile so much! Hailey loves to have her face tickled very softly...and I love how, sometimes, all she wants, is just to be in my arms.  :)  You are a gift Hailey - and we couldn't imagine life without you.  We thank God for you every day...and especially today.  Happy Birthday Hailey Grace!

My beautiful baby girls - they have changed our lives in so many ways this past year.  Not only have they given us an instant family, but they have given us more joy than we could have ever imagined.  They have shown us that we could love them all...with a love that we didn't even know we were capable of.  They have taught us to trust God (as we wondered if we'd get pregnant, if they'd be healthy, if they'd be okay in the NICU, etc.).  They have taught us perseverance (during the long sleepless nights in a row and the fact that we must always be "on" with the 3 of them).  They have taught us patience (with waiting on them to finish their bottles when they were little and waiting for them to stop spitting at meal time now).  They have taught us that it's okay to accept help (even when it's a hard thing to do) and that it doesn't matter what our house looks like when people come over (the important thing is each of them!)   They have reminded us that sometimes, all we can do is laugh when things get tough.  And that most of the time, it's all about a matter of perspective.  They have reminded us that God still performs miracles and that He really does listen to people praying.  Our love for our girls has humbled us to know that God loves each of us even more than we love them - which is pretty incredible and makes me speechless.   

Baby girls, we want you to know that we pray for God's guidance in parenting you every day.  Really - every day!  Thank you so much for an incredible first year together.  We're so honored to be your parents and honored that for some reason, God chose us to parent you.  We feel so blessed and we can't wait to see you grow up!  We love you Addy, Emily, and Hailey!!!

I Love Surprises!

So...this morning I had QUITE the surprise.  I have been feeling bummed that no one from my side of the family would be able to make it for the girls' birthday...so anyway...then this morning,we woke up and I was busy feeding the girls.  Ryan was kind of just "hanging around" and not leaving for work right away.  He was talking to me while I was feeding the girls.  Then, I turned around to answer one of his questions and whammo - my SISTER WAS STANDING THERE!  I seriously felt like she just dropped in from the sky or something.  I heard no door open/close...saw no car in the driveway..etc.  I was sooo excited.  I had a crazy look on my face and just screamed "NO WAY!  NO WAYYYY!"  The girls watched the whole thing with "stunned" looks on their faces as well.  Kara had snuck into our house at 12:30 last night and slept in our basement and then came upstairs while my back was turned.  I can't believe I was fooled!  Ryan was in on the whole thing.  That is the best birthday present the girls could get!  I'm SO GLAD she could come!!!  And, it makes me so excited for my girls that they get to have each other.  Sisters are seriously are the BEST!  :)The girls are getting extra loving this week as I feel so sentimental!  I can't believe that one year ago today I was already in the hospital, thinking they were going to stop my contractions and I'd be there for a few weeks.  Who knew that tomorrow would be their big day!!!
Here the girls are sporting their turtlenecks.  :)  
AUNTIE KARA IS HERE!!!!!!!
The girls already dove into a couple presents.  They LOVE the ribbon! :) 
Big girl Hailey