Just another Tuesday

My schedule has changed this semester, so I'm home with the babies on Mondays and Tuesdays, and at work Wed-Th-Fri. So far it's going ok - by the time I'm exhausted from taking care of babies, it's time to go back to work, and by the time I can't stand the thought of another day at work because I miss the babies terribly, it's time for another 4 day weekend.

Here are a few highlights from the past couple of days.

Jailbreak in progress


Napping while folded in half


Look who can reach the piano keys while standing!


Well, this morning's bath was pointless. Abby enjoyed using sweet potato as a hair styling product at lunch.


The best dessert is your own foot, according to Lucas


Zoey loves her sing-a-ma-jigs


Teeth!


Hey - quit sitting on me! (he also kept sitting on her in the bath this morning)


This video is from a week or two ago - Lucas trying to walk while pushing a diaper box.

Zoey - 9 months

Zoey's turn! Zoey can best be described as determined. When she really wants to master a new skill, she keeps trying until she gets it. Or until she gets really frustrated, at which point she shrieks loudly. She also has lots of silly, giggly moments, especially with Lucas. She loves dancing to music, playing with her musical tea set, and big stuffed animals. She still enjoys bouncing in the jumperoo, but her new favorite toy is the lion riding toy.

Zoey tried drinking formula out of a sippy cup today. She was so proud of herself.


Looking cute in her puppy dog jammies (these used to fit Lucas a few months ago!)


Zoey is an adventurous eater and usually insists on feeding herself. On this particular day she reached for my apple and sucked on it for awhile, trying to take little bites with her tiny teeth.


It may look like Zoey is about to crawl, but she's not. She can shift to hands and knees but hasn't figured out how to move forward yet. Sometimes she goes backwards, though!


Zoey loves standing and has been practicing pulling up to stand all by herself. She is also starting to practice transferring between two objects or people, and holding on to objects with just one hand.She will take a few steps if she's holding someone's hands. It will be a close race to see whether Zoey or Lucas walk first!


Zoey's stats: almost 15 pounds at the end of December, wearing size 2 diapers (at least until she uses them up - then we'll let her move to size 3), wearing 6-9 month clothes, and two tiny teeth. She's really catching up to her siblings!

Here's Zoey playing the piano


And here she is getting really excited about her Sing-a-ma-jigs

Lucas - 9 months

Lucas's turn! Lucas is our happy guy. He loves to laugh, play with his sisters, and have adventures. He's a bit wary of strangers when they get too close to him in the stroller but once he warms up he is all smiles.

Loving his new convertible carseat (Sunshine Radian, if you're curious). It's so much more comfortable than the old infant seat.


Lucas loves crawling through his tunnel. He is such a fast crawler now! He can also easily pull up to stand and hold on with just one hand. He's taken a few steps behind one of his push toys and will walk a little if we hold his hands.


He tends to bulldoze over anyone in his path and take whatever he wants (all with a smile and a giggle, of course - no obvious malice)


Lucas loves Casey, especially when she licks his face (ick). We're having to teach him to pet gently rather than grab and pull. She'll often roll over to get belly rubs from the babies.


about to climb Mt. Casey


at the summit


almost there!


whew - made it to the other side of the mountain!


off on his next adventure to try to catch the cat


I see you!


Some stats: he was 19 pounds at the end of December, wears size 4 diapers, wears 9-12 month clothes (and often needs 12-18 month pants to accommodate his cute round belly), and has two teeth.

Lucas also loves to eat and babble. Here's a video of him having a conversation with himself.




We look forward to seeing what he can do by the time he is 12 months!

Abigail - 9 months

Time for each baby's every-three-months individual blog post. First up is Miss Baby A. Abby is doing lots of fun and funny things. She used to be nicknamed "crabby Abby" due to her extreme fussiness, but now she is "happy Abby" most of the time. She loves to smile and is very social. She has the least stranger/separation anxiety, and she is learning some of the more "social" milestones such as clapping, waving, and imitating "so big".



In terms of motor milestones, she crawls around the house and pulls up to her knees, but still doesn't like to try to stand - her legs turn to limp noodles when we try to get her to do it. Here's a rare video of her agreeing to stand at the ottoman for a few seconds. (I don't think we've seen her stand since this day.)



Abby used to play more independently, leaving the joint play up to Lucas and Zoey, but lately she has been joining in more. She loves musical toys, banging things together, and putting things in her mouth (especially socks and loveys). She is sometimes slow to warm up to new things (like baths in the big tub) but once she adjusts she does great. And once she figures out that something is fun, she keeps doing it! For example, once she figured out how to crawl under the orange slide, she also started crawling under the LeapFrog activity table, the exersaucer, and the jumperoo. And then she felt confident enough to tackle the orange tunnel.



She also loves to try to pet the dog and the cat.


And now for some final stats. Abby is wearing size 3 diapers, size 6-9 and 9-12 month clothes, weighed almost 16 pounds at her last check-up, and has 0 teeth. She still nurses a couple of times a day (in addition to drinking formula) and enjoys eating solid food. She especially enjoys stealing spoons and dropping her sippy cup on the floor during mealtimes.

In summary, Abby is happy, lovey, cuddly, social, and playful, and we love watching her grow!

Your daily giggles

Lucas and Abby are starting to figure out how to play together - it was really fun to watch them giggle together like this.

Big kid baths

Over the holidays we decided to try bathing the babies in the big tub. They were getting too big for the baby tub, it always took so long to bathe 3 in a row, and it was hard to find a safe place to park two while bathing one. It still takes a lot of time and effort in the big tub, but at least we can keep an eye on all of them at the same time.

When we first tried it, Abby was scared and missed the coziness of her whale tub. But by the 3rd bath she realized she could splash so much more in the big tub.


Zoey and Lucas loved it right away and enjoyed playing with bath toys. Here they are trading ducks.


"Rubber duckie, you're the one..."


Of course Lucas figured out how to stand in the tub right away. He also enjoyed sliding around the tub on his belly. He was practically swimming laps. Maybe it's time for some swimming lessons.


Lucas's smile says it all


The bath routine is possible to do by just one person, up until the end. It's hard to take babies out and dry and dress them one at a time while keeping an eye on the others that are still in the tub. The ones who are waiting in the tub get cold and fussy, and the ones who are already dressed start crawling off and getting into mischief. And anything involving Lucas is a wrestling match these days, so he's always the first in and the last out. Guess we'll keep fine tuning the details!

Road trip to Roanoke

On Saturday we took a road trip to Roanoke to visit our friends Mike & Jill. We hadn't been to visit them in quite awhile due to last year's snowstorms, my bedrest, the craziness of raising 3 babies, etc. It was great to spend the day together, and the babies seemed to do well in the car and being around new people (well, Zoey and Lucas were a little scared at first, but they warmed up eventually).

The girls and babies had fun playing with each other. Abby was definitely the most social throughout the day and let everyone hold her.


Relaxing with dad on the couch after a hard day of playing.


The whole gang (Mike w/Maya, the 5 of us, and Jill w/Heidi). This picture is very different from the New Year's Days of years past!


Family pic


We hope that they get to come see us soon!