7.16.10: Summer is here

Wow, the weather has been HOT! So hot, we broke out the 12 month sized clothes a little early (hence the sagging shorts below). We haven't been able to go on our daily walks because it has been so hot. Yesterday we went to Target for our daily walk. Yes, that's right, Target. I loaded the girls in the stroller, then the car, then the stroller, then we walked around Target, then the car, then the stroller and back into the house. Yes, I was THAT desperate to get out of the house. It was definitely worth it to get out and utilize the free air conditioning in Target. Of course the girls always enjoy looking at the bright toys and crazy people.


stella prefers to carry her sippy cup around with her rather than drink from it.


fiona likes to play peek-a-boo by opening/closing the door.


daphne doing her daily tongue exercises.

7.11.10: Thirteen months old

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)
note: the monthly group photo is getting more and more difficult to capture as the girls get older/more mobile. We may have to move to individual monthly photos in the very near future.

Teeth, oh boy do we have teeth. Everybody has the front four on the top and bottom. In the past month, we have working on molars (yes, molars!). Stella and Fiona have two molars all the way through and are working on the third. Daphne is working on three but none are completely through just yet. That makes for a grand total of 33 teeth in process (4 top front, 4 bottom front, 3 molars x3).

Everyone is walking and nearly running. The girls love to crawl up the stairs at night. Currently, the girls seem happiest after dinner and before going to bed during 'naked time'. They typically run circles around their bedroom and giggle. Most often they fall to the floor because they get so tired they can't run correctly. When this happens, usually they just get back up and continue to try to run (in a continued effort to avoid drinking their bottles).

We are still napping twice daily for two hours although there seems to be some chatting going on during the morning nap. We try to stay pretty busy and have play dates at least twice a week. I make an effort to get out of the house at least three days a week in addition to our daily walks.

Daphne is the best communicator/signer, but everyone understands several words now: up, down, this, dada, maaaam, in, out, ding dong, ball.

We are slowly getting more adventurous with our food. One night we all had a quesadilla for dinner. Yes, that's right - the whole family ate the same thing. We will continue to work on more family meals. Brant and I eat dinner after the girls go to bed so this will be a slow process. We have started eating breakfast (thanks to Daphne demanding it) and eat that meal as a family in the mornings. I haven't been tracking the new foods we've tried for the past month and a half, but for the record here are most of our first 'real' foods devoured during our first year:

Banana
Sweet potatoes
Peas
Apple
Corn
Zucchini
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Asparagus
Blueberries
Cherries
String cheese
Cheerios
Green beans
Cottage cheese
Spinach
Bread
Yogurt
Tofu
Hot dogs (soy)
Strawberries
Raspberries
Carrot cake

7.9.10: Feed me

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

For the past six months, I have been trying to teach the girls some basic sign language. Nothing fancy, just the basics (change, milk, eat, more, all done, etc). Everyone has picked up on 'milk' although I have been resistant to declare them officially signing. Well this morning, Daphne started signing 'eat'. She was very clear that she didn't want her milk as breakfast any longer and instead insisted upon actual food. We took the girls downstairs to enjoy some cheerios. Then we decided why not completely spice up the day and give them spoons to eat their dry cheerios with? This did not go as well, but the girls definitely enjoyed chewing on their spoons. Since it seems like the girls are starting to understand sign language a bit, I have added a few more signs to our daily routine (walk, no, water, etc). We will see how it goes...fingers crossed (wait, what sign is that?)

7.6.10: 365 days of bliss

7.6.10: fiona, daphne, stella


7.6.09: fiona, daphne, stella

It was one year ago today that our entire family was home together. The 25 days it took to get everyone home from the hospital seemed to last forever. Thankfully, now that time seems so distant. We have been a complete family for 365 wonderful days. Can you believe it has already been a year?

Since Kelly and Rob were here to celebrate our special day, it only seemed appropriate to create a pig pile on them. (left to right: stella, kelly, daphne, rob, fiona)




"Come on Uncie Rob, we get to climb the stairs now." (daphne, stella, fiona) Yes, every night we let the girls climb the stairs on their way up to bed. It seems to help them use up some of that evening energy.

Some of my favorite pictures from the day:


stella and auntie


fiona and mama


daphne and auntie

7.4.10: Pointing at the park

Pointing has started in a big way. Fiona is the biggest pointer and loves to direct everybody, everywhere. In the morning, she gets upset if she doesn't get to greet the animals in all three mobiles. This came as a surprise to Kelly and Rob who were in town for an extended weekend. Thanks to Fiona, Rob got a very good tour of the neighborhood park.


Daphne wasn't very interested in sharing 'her' snack catcher with Fiona. Brant had to steal some cheerios from Daphne for Fiona. Mental note, need to bring more than one snack catcher to the park.


Who knew the teeter totter could hold five people?!? Fiona (pink), Stella (red) and I tested it out against Kelly and Daphne.

7.2.10: Virtual play date

(left to right: stella, daphne, fiona)

Today the girls had their first virtual play date via skype with one of their friends in Seattle, Alyssa. I discovered that I can fit all the girls in the computer chair and they are relatively stable. This is so much easier than trying to balance all three babies on my lap. We look forward to many more virtual play dates!

Last week we started transitioning to cow milk. We simple cut their bottles with more milk each day and today we had an entire day of cow milk. The biggest resistance comes with the temperature of the milk. The girls are used to warm formula and the milk comes cold. (Yes, I realize that I could heat it...but the reality is that eventually we would have to transition off of warm milk too. We decided to simply our lives and make all the transitions at one time.)

Thanks to all the money we are now saving by no longer purchasing formula, I have splurged and gotten a 'real' diaper bag. Up until now I have been using a very small messenger bag from college (let's not even discuss how old it is and therefore makes me). This diaper bag is amazing, made for a double stroller, holds everything, has a gazillion pockets and allows me to get out of the house faster. I no longer have to prioritize my supplies for the specific trip, I can always leave this bag fully loaded. Watch out world, we can now get from the house into the car in less than fifteen minutes.

7.1.10: Taking turns

Oy, it has been a tough week. Saturday Stella came down with some pretty awesome diaper rash. When I say pretty awesome, I really mean it. Remember we have three kids times one year of diaper rash experience under our belts. This was impressive, we are talking cry when sitting down kind of diaper rash. We squeezed in an adventure to our twin friends birthday party, but didn't last too long there. Later that evening Fiona came down with a decent fever and was cranky (with Stella) for a couple days. Around Monday, once we had both situations under control, Daphne came down with a fever of 103 so we took her into the doctor, just to make sure everything was ok. Then, as surely you have anticipated by now, Stella got the fever on Tuesday. The surprise however, is that Brant and I got it too. We have been in such rough shape as a family. Brant and I actually negotiate who gets to take the nyquil at night so that one of us is always alert in case the girls need something. We have taken turns going on walks separately so that the one who stays home can 'rest up' for the night time feeding. It has been rough, but we seem to be on the mend. The girls are getting better minus some cough and runny noses. Brant and I are a little slower to recover, but we are getting there. We have a 'fever-off' a couple times a day. Whoever has the lowest fever has to make dinner, or make the bed, or take the girls on the walk, etc. It keeps us laughing during a not so fun time.

One funny story during this un-fun time:
As you know, Daphne has a lot of energy. Recently around bedtime, Daphne gets really silly. Instead of whining and crankiness when she is tired she gets really silly. So silly she often falls over when walking and makes herself giggle. On Monday she woke up from her morning nap with a temperature of 103. We brought her into the doctor to get her checked out as she was super lethargic. While in the waiting room, she was SO sleepy. Then she noticed a mom and kid (10ish) sitting near us. She started to giggle at them. Loudly. The problem was they weren't doing anything funny. The people kept asking me what she was giggling at and I had nothing to tell them (there was a plain wall behind them, nothing interesting at all). I think they were kind of insulted that my baby was laughing at them...and of course she was staring straight at them laughing, which made me laugh.

6.24.10: Quadruplets

Ever wondered what it would be like to have quadruplets? Well my neighbor Heather came over with her son (~1 month older) for our weekly play date. When she tried to feed Fausto some banana, this is what happened.... Thankfully Fausto was nice enough to share his snack.

(left to right: Fausto, Heather, Stella, Daphne, Fiona)

6.23.10: Who needs three arms?

(stella peaking through the tunnel)

Today we went to the children's museum (trying to avoid the heat but still getting out of the house). It is really a great place for us as the girls can run freely and I can (almost) keep an eye on everyone. I usually try to meet my friend and her twins there. Somehow it feels more manageable knowing that someone else will be there just 'in case' you need another set of hands. Of course, the major challenge with meeting people from the multiples group is that every has multiples, meaning the kid:adult ratio is always off. Regardless, somehow 5:2 seems better than 3:1, especially if someone needs to be changed or falls a little too hard. As I was packing up to go, she took the below photo. The hardest part about the adventure is always loading and unloading the kids from the stroller which is outside a set of doors. Needless to say, I have learned to pick up/carry/put down everyone at the same time. This is my technique, it isn't pretty but it works. Who needs three arms, right?


(left to right: daphne, fiona, stella)

6.22.10: Ouch (times fifteen)

Today we had our 12 month appointment. Everyone is growing appropriately having almost all quadrupled in size since birth. Can you imagine growing four times your size in just one year? Just thinking about that is exhausting, let alone learning to eat, walk, talk, communicate, etc. As anticipated there were many vaccinations, 15 total. It made for a very tough day, but at least we are done for a while. Our next doctor appointment won't be for another six months. Our primary goals for the next six months are: eliminate bottles and binkies, start eating with utensils, and continued improvement walking and talking. I'm sure there are more, but those are enough for me for a while. Here is how the ladies stack up to other 12 month old babies (full term).

Fiona:
18lbs, 14oz (birth weight 4lbs, 13oz)
29" tall (birth length 18.75")
(weight 14%, length 45%)

Daphne:
20lbs, 7oz (birth weight 4lbs, 14oz)
30" tall (birth length 18")
(weight 40%, length 75%)

Stella:
18lbs, 11oz (birth weight 4lbs 9oz)
29" tall (birth length 17.25")
(weight 13%, length 45%)

I thought I would capture what a happens to our living room during a typical day. We put everything away each night in order to start the day fresh. This picture was taken ONE hour after the girls started playing. I have no idea how they get into everything in such a short time. I guess I will call them very efficient.