13 months old!

Marleigh and her first cake

Brooke loved her first cake

It took days for Sophia to finally try her birthday cake!!

Well, I do apologize for the lapse in writing in the blog but these little angels are moving a mile a minute! Ever since Brooke began to crawl on Christmas Day (7 months old) things have been in constant motion. Her crawling led to gating off spaces and then making those spaces safe- a never ending task. Toys are constantly being removed because Brooke has learned to stand on them.

Everyone is walking; Brooke at 10.5 months, Sophia at 11.5 months and Marleigh on their first birthday. Brooke is actually running at this point if she has enough space. They love walking outside and we often go to our neighbors flat driveway to let them roam.

They have been sleeping through the night since just after Christmas and what a difference that makes in all our lives. They only wake now if someone is sick which generally means an ear infection. With 6 little ears we are at the doctor plenty for check ups!!!

They all have about 8 teeth with many more popping up. They look like children now with all the teeth instead of babies which is sad for us- what short year.

Here is a peek into our day- both good and bad:

7am- Bottles are delivered and diapers changed; just switching to milk this week!

7:45 Breakfast is served- no more spoon-fed meals for us unless it's yogurt. Fruits and Cheerios are placed on their table till the pancakes, toast or waffles are ready. No syrup yet but they love butter!!!

8:15- change out of food-covered jammies into the next outfit to be destroyed by lunch.

8:30 Play inside, go for a walk or swing.

9:15 Down for nap; Brown Bear or Hungry Caterpiller is read to each girls as they head upstairs.

9:30- 11am- Julie's down time: Clean up bottles, breakfast table and floor; shower (maybe), straighten playrooms, laundry, dishes, prep for lunch. Think about dinner

11am- 11:30- kids are up and play in their room (supervised) before lunch.

11:30- Lunch is served: turkey, ham or chicken with avocado, fruit or veggies (frozen and thawed peas, corn carrots, green beans, edamame etc). Toast or crackers, goldfish, baby puffs

12noon- play time, walk or run an errand with the kids.

2pm- Nap for all three and then I clean up lunch, prep bottles, straighten playrooms, repack diaper bag if we were out, maybe clean a bathroom, more laundry, forget that I want to make dinner

3:30- bottles and playtime. This is another window to go out and play or run an errand.

5pm- freak out that Dave and I need dinner and babies cry in the playroom while I throw something together to be ready by 5:30-ish

5:30- dinner is served- they will eat some of what we are having but it's generally a repeat of something from the lunch menu.

6pm- playtime, bath, walk- time with mommy and daddy generally.

7pm- install babies into jammies before melt-down is in full swing

7:30 bottles, Guess How Much I Love You is read, sound machines on, projector on, lovies in cribs and lots of kisses goodnight.

7:45pm- clean up dinner for us and them, prep for breakfast, laundry and some "together time" before bed for Dave and I.

This is the new and improved schedule that we are in now- it was fairly crazy a few months ago when we were feeding all three babies spoon-fed meals, then spoon-fed with finger foods.

We try to do something each day- even if it's a walk around the neighborhood- being stuck inside is hard on all of us. Rainy, snowy, or super hot days just kill us. Hot days we can get out in the early morning or maybe a quick run to the mall for variety but if the weather is bad we are stuck!! That's when visitors are wonderful- Elle's friends, my friends, strangers- just anyone!

Brooke is our adventurous one always trying new things and inspiring her sisters to follow along. She loves climbing into baskets and sitting on toys, I'd like to get her a chair but I think they will just all stand on them. She adores shoes, ours and theirs. She knows that putting on shoes means we are going out somewhere and she becomes very excited. She will go into our laudry room and come out with matching pairs of shoes- the first time she saw all the shoes in that room her eyes just lit up- JACK POT!!! She is learning to say hat and says "tickle, tickle, tickle" all the time. She says MOM but not mama. She loves riding in the car with the windows all open and throws her hands up like it's the Screaming Eagle ( and some days it probably is). She is not a big snuggler, she has a lot to do during her day but will snuggle some at nap time. Not sure if she has a favorite animal like her sisters do right now- she just loves everything!!! Her favorite foods are anything with butter and meats. They all love cut up grapes. She laughs when we peek in the playroom window at her and when the neighbor cats rub up against her.

Marleigh is our music lover. She bobs her head whenever she hears music and loves the various pianos that are in the playroom. Anything that sings is her favorite toy. Almost everyday they listen to patriotic music- it's the only thing on my iPod that play for several songs that is completely appropiate. They all dance to the music while playing toys but Marleigh just lights up when it starts. Her favorite animal is a cat. Our neighbors have cats and she just loves to see them and gets so excited and waves. It's a pretty good start to our day if we go on a walk and see a dog, cat, our neighbor Pat and maybe swing. Marleigh likes to snuggle in the morning with me, as I lay on the floor wondering what the heck to do all day with 3 babies she comes over and lays on my belly and smiles at me. She has a binky to go to sleep and as I read her naptime story she will lay her head on me and snuggle for a minute but she really just wants to lay down in the crib. She is a good eater and has tried scrambled eggs, mangos, peaches, blueberries, strawberries and others with no fuss. When given her first chocolate chip cookie she laughed the whole time she ate it!!! Her smile is huge and can light a room.

Sophia- snuggle bunny!! She is such a sweet, loving girl. She especially loves our story time before nap and could snuggle forever if I had the time. Now, with her sisters- she is a thief! She always wants what someone else has and goes after it with gusto! She would walk around with her lovie all day if we let her but I try to keep it as just a bedtime thing. She loves dogs and makes the "d" sound whenever she hears a dog barking- smarty pants Sophia!!! She is the most vocal of the three and does this hilarious siren noise. Dave and I had the monitor outside on the patio one night and suddenly heard her making this crazy noise- now all of them do it but her's really sounds the closest to an actual siren. She is a good eater but I think would prefer if we fed her instead of just placing the finger foods out. She has been the best at trying new spoon-fed foods but is a little reserved with the new finger foods. Sophia usually laughs at the funny things she says or the fact that we have no idea what she is saying- either way she thinks she is hilarious.

That's all for now, I will keep up with pics and posts a little better from now on!

We've got a crawler on our hands!

Playing after breakfast

Sorry, it wasn't sideways before posting!

At their first birthday party-

Brooke on her feet and about to fall- she has had one bruise, one fat lip and one good bump since beginning to crawl- hello emergency room, it's us again!!!

If I can actually write a post once a month we will be doing good! I remember from when Elle was a baby that just when you get a little comfortable with the routine that it all changes but this is insane. Brooke began crawling on Christmas night. Just an inch or so but it counted. She is quite the handful and it's an awfully good thing she has a helmet on these days. She crawls, pulls up on things and climbs. When she is in her crib she stands up and then screams that she can't get back down, she looks like she is riding a roller coaster- hanging on for dear life and just wailing.

The changes for all 3 are miraculous and wonderful. Marleigh has her 2 bottom teeth coming in and loves to show them with her big smile. She is getting up in the crawling position but hasn't gotten the whole moving thing yet. Brooke has one bottom tooth coming in and Sophia fusses some like she is getting one too. Everyone can sit really well, except for Brooke who rarely does it- no need to sit when you can move. They are realizing more and more that each other is around and tend to look for one another after their bottles. We think they are so content playing since they are never alone. They laugh when they see each other and it's just darling. They are beginning to notice each other in their cribs too. I have all 3 upstairs in the nursery and the downstairs area is a playroom. I will have to include pics when we get everything decorated. I have planned the nursery and playroom for years and it's so exciting to finally have it all!!!!

They are about 16 and 17 pounds now but much smaller in size than other babies their age. There are 2 other babies in our playgroup that are relatively the same age and they are much bigger. We went to our first birthday party, it was so cute that the girls got party favors! Our neighborhood is booming with babies and in 5 years our bus stop will be crowded. The couples are all fun and nice but soooo young!

Solid food feedings are going well, everyone is eating cereal and veggies. I won't introduce fruits until they eat green beans really well. Right now I am making their baby food and it's pretty easy. Dave said I didn't need any more chores to do but when I told him it saves money and it's so good for the babies he agreed it was a good idea. They eat sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, zucchini, and peas. I tried to make my own cereal but NO one liked it and it just wasn't worth the effort. It can take up to 15 trys to get use to a new food and re-training them on cereal just isn't worth my time. Commercial cereal is FINE.

We are really thrilled with our babies, they are even tempered about most things. They don't fuss when they need changing or during the changing; they like bath time; enjoy eating bottles and solids; never fuss in the car; play well etc. No one takes a binky so that's one less thing to wean them from down the road. Some days are crazy with short naps or teething but for the most part things are terrific. Honestly if they start to nap for a long time and regularly I'll go crazy with joy. Their sleep habits are the only tough thing we have. They sleep well and all night but their naps can be short and make for a long day or a super early bed time. Early bedtime means early start the next day- not good for mama. I perfer them to wake around 8am, today was 6:55 and boy was I a fuss! Thank goodness Dave was home since we had a bunch of snow and helped out for the first hour.

I do have help during the week now, can't remember if I mentioned it last time. It's been wonderful now that Elle's birthday and Christmas is gone and now I can get out and do what I want and not constantly shop for gifts that had to be wrapped. My focus now is getting the playroom and nursery decorated. Also, with Brooke crawling I literally can't leave the room unless she is "caged" so gone are the days where I could run the vaccuum or wash the bottles while they played. Those chores are for nap time and when nap time is only 30 minutes, 3 times a day... not much gets done!!! Mary is a huge help with so many things, the babies, cleaning bottles, organizing, straightening ect. It's like having another me only she is much more motivated while working- I tend to complain a lot.

Despite the long post, I can't remember all the things I wanted to chat about so if I remember soon and have time you'll hear from me again.

Happy New Year to all!