The Great Escape

Lucas found his way out of the cage. We're in trouble.


Zoey loves wearing hoodies


The babies enjoyed playtime at the mall. Apparently Mali felt really brave and had enough energy to load up the babies and go to the mall for an expedition. She said the babies really liked watching the other kids running around.

A Day in the Life

For all those who wonder what a day in the life of three 7.5 month babies is like, this is the post for you. If you are bored by the minutiae of other peoples' schedules, this is not the post for you.

We have fallen into more of a predictable routine in the last month or two, so much so that we have almost completely stopped charting their every meal, nap, and diaper change. Here's what a typical day looks like when I'm home alone with them:

6-7am: babies wake up, eat, get changed, start playing




Then Jason and I eat breakfast, I consume as much coffee as I can, and I start prepping the babies' solid foods breakfast while Jason gets ready for work.

Apparently, it is now fashionable to wear your smock on your head while eating breakfast. (the smocks are from IKEA - aren't they great?)

Zoey


Abby


Lucas didn't want his smock anywhere near him this morning. You may not be able to tell, but he has dried cream of wheat and bananas all over his face.


After breakfast it's playtime for awhile longer, then a nap from 9-10am. This is my time to shower, pump, reply to emails, and clean as much of the house as I can.

From roughly 10am to 12 or 1pm, it's playtime, bottle time, and maybe an adventure (such as a walk with the dog, or a bath). Sometimes they get another solid foods meal - depends on if the grown-up in charge has the energy.



Unfortunately, since we don't have a garage, we have to store the stroller in the front hall. (the "triple wide" is stored in the van)


From 4-5pm, there is another solid meal, then changing into pajamas. Bedtime bottles usually start by 5pm, which is also when I start counting down the minutes to Jason's arrival home. The babies are usually asleep by 6:30pm. This evening there was mass hunger hysteria in the middle of diaper changes, so we all hung out on the floor in the nursery and had bottles. This video really captures everyone's personality: Zoey saying "I can do it myself," Abby saying "Please do it for me," and Lucas completely absorbed in his toys.




6pm-6am: finally some downtime! This is when we get to eat dinner together, catch up on chores, and watch some bad TV. In theory this is also a time when we need to be doing work stuff, but we're usually too tired to use our brains.

The babies are now pretty much sleeping through the night, which is amazing. How did we ever live without sleep before??? Sometimes there's a little crying in the middle of the night but usually replacing pacifiers does the trick. And sometimes someone wakes up around 9 or 10 for a snack, which is fine since we're not in bed yet.

So there you have it! One busy day out of our busy lives.

Assorted Pictures

We went for a family walk today at a nearby trail. Lucas loved pulling his socks off and holding his toes. It was really funny to listen to the babies babbling to themselves throughout the walk. (they are saying a lot of "da da da" and "la la la" I'm trying to get them to work on "ma ma ma" but they are not interested)


The triple stroller does great on unpaved paths!

All bundled up to go on a walk





Happy boy




Lucas showing off his bottle-holding skills. We were so excited to discover that the Avent sippy cup handles also work on bottles!

Sisters playing

Red one-piece outfit day. :)


Shoes and socks are so fun and tasty!




Mojo exploring the baby jail


Blocks!

Trip to PA

We had another successful road trip this past weekend. This time we went to PA to visit Jason's Aunt Marilyn & Uncle Mike, his grandfather (Pop), and assorted cousins. The babies did pretty well on the 5 hour drive there and adjusted fairly quickly to all the new people. Sleep was a little rough both nights, and the ride home was tougher. It was really great to spend time with Pop and the rest of the family!

Zoey had important things to say to Pop


Pop and Jason with the babies


Aunt Marilyn with the trio


Uncle Frank, Lucas, Abby, and Jason


Abby with cousin Sam


Zoey with cousin Stef


Abby and Pop getting to know each other


Pop and Marilyn watching Lucas work on his crawling skills


Lucas has never met an exersaucer he didn't like


"how am I supposed to rub my hair with this thing on my head?"


"we really should wear hot pink more often"


Thanks to our thoughtful hosts and all the family members who drove over to Mike & Marilyn's to see us!

Halloween, part 2

I've spent a lot of time this fall remembering what it was like to be pregnant last fall. I loved being pregnant and anticipating the arrival of our little pumpkins. Here are a couple of pictures from last Halloween.

Our pumpkin family of 5 from last year


The babies were a little better disguised last Halloween


The babies had a total of 9 costumes to choose from this year, due to all the boxes of clothes that were given to us. Here is another set of 3. (stay tuned for the final set sometime soon)







My own little pumpkin patch

Playtime at the Zoo

Well, it's happened. Our living room has been fully given over to the babies. We cleared out the coffee table, got extension panels for the superyard gate, and made a big enclosed play area. This way we can keep the dog out (sometimes) and the babies in (most of the time).

The babies are all working on different skills during their floor time. Zoey is perfecting her ability to play with toys while sitting up. She is still not at all interested in rolling from back to tummy, yet she can stand for a few seconds while holding on to something.

"hey, where did everybody go??"


Lucas and Abby are both incredibly close to crawling. They can get up on hands and knees, rock back and forth, scooch themselves backwards (although they're trying to go forwards), and make lurching motions forward. They are each motivated by different things...

Lucas wants to get to the dog (sorry, long video, as usual)



Abby wants to get to her cow (also long)


oops, forgot to add this video when I did the original post. Here's Zoey taste-testing some socks.