Family Christmas Portraits

Last week we had our first professional photographs taken with the babies. I knew it was going to be a lot of work getting three babies bathed, dressed up, and loaded in the car (and it was!), but we had such a fun time and the babies did great hamming it up for the camera! Here are some of our favorites...Merry Christmas!

Christmas is upon us...

Our nativity

The beautiful tree Robert brought home for us
(We like 'em sparse and natural:))

Mommy enjoying the festivities

Daddy placing the topper on the tree
(Mary made it for us last year!)

Our pretty little tree

Oliver and Grace enjoying the fresh scent of pine

Audrey's front row view of the tree

I love December. It is a month filled with fresh snow, warm drinks, cozy fireplaces, Christmas music, and most importantly, the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who came into the world as a tiny baby so many years ago. This year the nativity story has a new meaning to me: after giving birth to three tiny babes, I feel like I see the Christmas story through Mary's eyes in a whole new way. Just last night at a Christmas tea at my parents' church I listened to a woman tell that very story from Mary's point of view. Hearing it as a mother brought tears to my eyes. To hold a baby in your arms (the Son of God no less!) and know that he is the very fulfillment of the Old Testament, to know that He came to save the world, and in doing so would have to give his very life as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins - how excruciating it must have been for Mary to know the fate of her son! And yet, how incredible it must have been to hold that little baby, and to know that the world was about to change forever! Her little baby boy became her very own Savior!

I am so excited to celebrate Christmas with our babies! Robert cut down a tree for us today and we spent the late afternoon hanging ornaments and lights while Barry Manilow and Jimmy Buffet crooned Christmas tunes (hey, that was all Robert's choosing...but I let him pick since he did march through the woods and saw down a tree for me!) The babies love staring at lights (so much so that we have to go around the house turning off lamps at night so the babies don't fry their retinas) so naturally they were entranced by the many glowing white lights on the tree. I let Oliver and Audrey touch the branches and they seemed to really enjoy the texture of the pine needles. Audrey even grabbed a sprig and gave it a good tug:) Last year I sewed a tree skirt for our tree (I was pregnant but didn't know yet!) and this year I plan to make stockings for each baby. I am eager to continue family traditions from our own childhoods and to begin new ones with the babies. This year will be so special having three such beautiful, chubby little babes around the tree, and I can only imagine how much fun it will be to watch them grow in wonder and excitement at each passing Christmas...

Thanksgiving at the Bennington's

Gracie's tortoise tongue

Gracie and Oliver are starting to look alike!

Mommy and Mr. O in his moby wrap

My poor baby girl's sore little legs

Audrey standing(!) and saying hello to Oliver

Grandpa keeping the girls entertained

Grandma and Oliver

Gracie liked to talk to the friendly, purple hippo

"I'm walking on sunshine"

Mmmm... Audrey's sleeve is yummy!

My little flower child

Grandpa and Oliver

Audrey

The baby play area

Sweet baby Audrey

Our beautiful Thanksgiving table

"Tutu" giving Audrey a bottle

Mommy, Daddy, and three babies!

Oliver playing with his toys

The babies took their first trip to Sunriver to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Bennington's for Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, the girls each had to get FIVE shots the day before, so they weren't feeling too good and were pretty fussy but they still managed to have fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa (thank goodness for Tylenol!). Audrey started standing up, first on people's laps and then whenever and wherever she could! She still needs some hand-holding to stay up, but once up, she locks her little legs in place and just smiles and smiles. All three babies got weighed this week, and are definitely growing at their own paces! Audrey (the happy medium) was just under 15lbs, little Gracie was just about 10lbs, and Oliver was a whopping 17.4lbs!!! Grandpa must have been slipping him some turkey during Thanksgiving dinner!

6 Months Old and a Visit from 'Auntie' Mary and Luke!

Best friends and their babies

Oliver and Luke

Sweet sisters

Grace and Luke

Oliver

Luke

A visit from Lindsey and Lydia!

Baby wheel!

Auntie Mary and Grace

Audrey, Luke, Oliver, and Grace

Sweet Grace Maria

Hanging out with big brother

Grace

Sleepy Grace

Great faces

Luke has awesome hair!

Audrey's little piggies

Gracie loves the animals!

Our big boy

The snow is falling here in Bend, Oregon, which means two things: the babies and I get to enjoy the lovely white snow falling outside while we snuggle up in front of the cozy fireplace, and Christmas music has been brought in from the garage and is officially welcomed (and playing continuously) in the Bennington home!

The babies are now 6 months old; it is amazing how quickly the babies are learning new things! Audrey has started grabbing things and reaching for toys! She can hold on tightly to things (including mommy's hair!) and she likes making lots of new noises and squeals of delight:) Oliver still loves sitting up and has started "scooting". I have started burping him in a sitting position on my lap after he eats, and he thinks it is really funny to scoot his little buns right off of my lap! Grace has been smiling a lot and makes the cutest little giggles. She has also discovered her tongue and sticks it out all the time like a little tortoise. And best of all (drumroll...) the babies have begun sleeping pretty much through the night! Oliver likes to go to sleep around 7:30 p.m. (he lets us know by rubbing his little eyes) and doesn't wake up until around 5 or 6 in the morning! The girls stay up a little later with mom and dad, and sleep until about the same time. Sometimes Audrey wakes me up at 3 or 4, but only having to feed one baby in the middle of the night is a lot easier than feeding (and changing, and burping) three! And after their early-morning feed they often sleep for a few more hours until around 8 or 9 - and those few hours are when mommy gets her best and deepest sleep! Oliver is also taking a long three hour nap every afternoon from about 1:00 - 4:00! I'm hoping the girls soon follow their big brother's good example:)

Last week, my best friend Mary and her four month old baby, Luke, were able to come up from Sacramento and spend 5 days with us. It was so wonderful to meet each other's babies. We hadn't seen each other since March - right before I ended up in the hospital on bedrest. We didn't really leave the house (with four babies that would be pretty difficult!), but we sure enjoyed playing with babies, drinking coffee, and talking all day long!