July 4th

We spent the Fourth of July in Colorado Springs at Grammy's house.  It was so nice, relaxing, and fun to be there.  The boys were adaptable once again and did great.  Here are some pics of our vacation!

Steph managed to capture all the smiles of the boys, they are so different and very unique...

Evan

Ryan

Collin

Collin discovered the joys of boxes...

Ryan was not so enthused...

And Evan was 50:50...

We went out for yummy hotdogs, though the boys can't have any yet, they still had fun...

Sean and Collin

Serious thoughts with Ryan and Evan

Why you should always strap them in :)

But mostly we just sat around and played, and did our best to look cute and festive for the holiday...

And the boys got spoiled by plenty of people to snuggle and hold them...

Bear and Collin

And we weren't the only babies... this is one of two twin fawns that we saw often with their mom over the weekend.

9 Months!

Evan

Ryan

Collin

The boys have officially been in the world longer than they cooked in me... and Evan is over 4 times his birth weight, with his brothers close behind.  I think I had it easier before, it is about to get CRAZY.  Here are some pics of our play session this morning, we were watching the World Cup and I was doing laundry (never-ending).

Ryan and Collin

Evan in "Joovy"

Evan, Ryan, Collin

Collin, Ryan, Evan

They are officially mobile.  They can't crawl yet, but they army crawl and scooch.  Evan's in "Joovy" because he's the fastest and most into exploring.  You'll look up and when he was on the blanket a mere moment ago, he's now under the dining room table.  Or by the baby gate looking at the dogs.  Or pulling on a cord.  And I never pretended to have the cleanest house in the world, I know it isn't pristine, but I did think it was ok, until now.  Evan chases dust bunnies, gross.  I try to use our fabulous swiffer vacuum every morning and zap the dust bunnies with the Dyson, but it never seems like enough.  Best thing we did while I was pregnant... pull up the carpet.  Thankful for that decision/investment everyday.

The boppies are back out because the bouncy seats and travel swing have been put up.  They were pulling themselves forward and I was afraid they'd flip them.  Also, the bouncy seats were almost touching the floor when they were in them they were so weighed down.  The Little Lamb swing is still out, but used rarely.  They still spend a while in the jumperoos every morning (now on the second height level).  They are also on their last shoulder slot in their car seats too.

Evan has had his helmet for over a week now and doesn't mind it one bit.  He objects sometimes when it comes on or off, but now that he's in it 23 hours a day that's not as much of a problem.  And his assymetry already seems to be improving by the measurements, so hopefully he'll be in it closer to the 4 months of the 4-6 that they thought.

You might notice the baskets in the picture, Collin loves toys in baskets.  He especially loves pulling all the toys out and dumping them.  Seriously, it's his favorite thing.  Ryan loves anything with wheels.  Evan loves things he can rattle.  And all the boys already love forbidden fruits...  Remotes, phones, computers, cameras, anything that we have they want.  They also LOVE each other, it's really cute to watch them interact.  Until they whack each other.  The last picture above is seconds before chaos broke out because Ryan kicked Collin and Evan smacked Ryan in the face.

They are all still eating really well.  Ryan is the biggest chow hound.  He cries if he isn't getting his fruits or veggies fast enough, and sometimes when his bottle is empty.  Evan is the most patient eater, and often doesn't finish his whole bottle.  We still have a LOT of spit up.  The pediatrician says it should be over, so hopefully soon...  They feed themselves rice rusks, and have mostly figured out the puffs.

We're still using cloth diapers primarily.  I still really like it, I don't think the extra load of laundry is that big of a hassle, and I REALLY like not going through a jumbo pack of diapers every 2-3 days.

That's it for the update, here's a photo of all of us in my parent's pool last weekend, we have such water babies!  Don't let Ryan's face fool you, they loved it!

9 Month Well Check

We had a very full day yesterday:  Evan had his appointment to get his helmet, all the boys went with me to the dentist (they should have been sleeping, but the wonderful ladies in the office held them to curb their fussiness), and then we went to the pediatrician for their 9 month well check.  Everyone is doing well and is hitting most of their developmental milestones.  The boys are all in the 90+ percentile for head and 70+ percentile for weight compared to babies born at the same gestational stage.  Here are the stats:

Evan:

weight 21# 1oz

head 18.75"

height 28.5"

Ryan:

weight 19# 9oz

head 18"

height 28.25" 

Collin:

weight 19# 10oz

head 18.5"

height 28.25"

I'll be posting more pics soon...

Memorial Day

Every year we go to the family ranch in Nebraska for Memorial Day, so the boys had their second big trip last weekend, and it was wonderful!  They are so good, and so adaptable!  They slept on a twin bed that was pushed against the wall with chairs lined up on one side and pillows on all sides, and all together for the first time since New Years... and they slept!  How cute are they?!?!  Collin is in ducks, Ryan in zoo animals, and Evan in polka dots.

Where they started (sort of, Ryan already flipped 180)...

Where they were an hour later!

Here is what else happened while we were there... Ryan and Collin can both sit by themselves!  We still have to be careful where they are, because they can fall back or topple still, but they can last for a long time.  Ryan is a little better than Collin, and Evan still wobbles but is close.  Also, Ryan got his second tooth and Evan got his first on the way there!  Collin got his first one last week after we got back, Evan now has two, and Collin will probably get his second one soon too.  With the wonderful weather and the cemetery duties the boys spent a lot of time outside, and they loved it!

Ryan

Evan and Neenee

Collin

And we had to take the traditional "baby on the bear" pictures...

Evan, Ryan, Collin

They wanted nothing to do with her!  They all look a little worried...

Ryan, Collin, Evan

The couch is more their style!

We can't wait to go back...

Nano and Collin

And just in case you were wondering, this is how we roll... We're great travelers!  And they can eat our bottles while driving.  We stopped around 12 and 4 to change diapers (when we would normally), and convenient times to grab food/gas, and then got them set up with their bottles.

Such good boys!  They better get used to traveling by car, we won't be buying 5 plane tickets any time soon :)

Cloth!

I don't know where the idea came from, I really don't.  I'm not really "green", the extent of my typical eco-friendliness is compact fluorescent lightbulbs.  But I got the idea, and I would not let it go.  I think it came from a realization that I was being too stingy with the diapers.  I started being lazy about changing the boys, and I noticed them leaking here or there.  Or they have a poopy diaper, you change them, and they poop again right away.  A little frustrating, and I found myself letting them sit for a couple minutes to make sure they were finished.  Sit.  In a dirty diaper.  Ew.

So I got the idea, and I didn't let it go.  I did some research on the internet, asked for some advice, and then on a lunchbreak I went to a store.  Thank goodness OKC has the Green Bambino!  People, if you want to do this, you need a store!  Morgan (the owner) was great, she knew exactly what would and would not work for me.  She answered all my questions, and helped me pick out a variety to try.  There is NO WAY I would have been as successful or done this as cheaply just off the internet.

Here's what I started with:
3 Marvels by Kissaluvs
6 Thirsties covers
6 Thirsties inserts
3 Flips covers
6 Flips inserts
6 generic inserts
Flushable liners
1 bag for dirties
1 small bag for on-the-go dirties

I got only snap diapers, no velcro for me.  That is mostly because I hate velcro in the wash, but also the velcro closures don't last as long.  After about a week I went back and got 3 more Flips covers and 6 more Flips inserts, I liked them better than the Thirsties.  As we go on I'll try to get more Kissaluvs, but otherwise I'm done.  That's right.  I have enough diapers and liners to last until they are potty trained. I do an extra load of laundry a night but it is sooo easy!  When the babies go to bed I just toss their dirties  in the wash, and try to get them in the dryer before bed.  But even if I don't, I have enough to last 2 days if I need to.  And when the diapers are dirty, or wet, or whatever, I change them!  Because I'm not wasting anything!

We even did cloth when we were out of town last weekend.  And since all our garbage goes in our own silo on the ranch and not in some far-away landfill, I felt really good that our babies weren't going to have to deal with undecomposed diapers in 100 years.  Yay!

8 Month Pics

Evan

Ryan

Collin

I forgot to mention that we have had our first cold.  It's been going on for about 2 weeks now.  Definitely much improved, but we still have occasional runny noses and periodic little coughs.  I called the doctor twice, but any fevers have been low, so we're using Zyrtec and riding it out.

And these are the boys in the cradle that was made for my mother by her grandparents.  My mom, uncle, me, my sister, both my cousins, and now the boys, have used this cradle.  The boys slept in it when they were still in our room, a head at each end and the feet in the middle.  Ryan and Collin used it the most, and they were too long so they were at an angle and their swaddled legs and feet were next to each other.  Aren't they cute in their jammies?!

Collin, Evan, and Ryan

8 Months Old and SOOO Big...

When do babies stop looking like babies and start looking like little people?  Our boys look like little boys! I think it happened around 6 months or so.

Ryan and Collin can sit up on their own for a one or more minutes.  Evan still needs a little support.

All the boys can hold their bottles and feed themselves!!  A major timesaver when we need it.  I still enjoy the cuddle time with feeding :)

They can scoot themselves around 360 degrees.  They can roll feet across the floor.  They can't crawl yet, but they are officially semi-mobile.  Evan especially... one minute safely on the blanket, the next under the bookshelf (how did he fit?), the end table, or just halfway across the floor.

Ryan, Evan, Collin

Collin and Evan, don't they look like jailbirds?

Ryan has a tooth!  The other two aren't far behind.

They do a lot of vocalizing.  They have such sweet voices :)  Ryan has found his lungs and can scream.  He does it for fun :)

They can sit in their Bepepod seats for a while now before getting tired.  I try to get them in at least once a day to practice sitting.

Collin, Ryan, Evan

We've noticed that Ryan (a month or so ago) and Collin (last week) put things inside other things.  In particular they have these great stacking toys, and they both put the small frog from another stacking set into one of the other stacking squares.

Favorite toys:  school bus with pop up animals (they can close the pop-ups), play mat (they can pull on all the toys, Evan even rolled with it so it was sideways on top of him), mirrors (LOVE), Sophie the giraffe (of course), other chew toys, jumperoos (they can swivel around, pull and bang on all the toys, and we may need to increase the height soon), books, and of course all their Lamaze buddies: Inch, Mortimer, Jacque, and Tucker.

Favorite tv shows: Dinosaur Train and Penguins of Madagascar.  Also like Super Why and a little Sesame Street.

Eating 4 bottles a day with rice cereal, morning is 5.5oz, two afternoon of 4.5oz, and evening of 6.5oz.  They spoon feed twice a day following their smaller bottles, 8oz of fruits and then veggies split between them.  We tried Turkey and Rice yesterday, no complaints.  These babies eat anything.  I pureed some frozen mango chunks and the first time they didn't like them, but I tried again the next day and they were fine with them.  It was my first experiment pureeing on my own, hopefully I'll do more.  They love their seats at the table and play at them before and after eating.

They are still sleeping great, though lately they've woken a little earlier, typically eating last bottles starting around 8pm and first bottles around 7:30am.  They grew out of their fleece sleep sacks (plus a little too warm now), so we have the cotton ones but so far are just in jammies.

Still not "napping" but we do have cat naps.  In the morning they are great, so relaxed and play in the jumperoos, play mat, or in the playpen or on the floor (can't be on the floor unless we're close, since they can roll so well and so far).  Then in the afternoon it's lots of floor time with little cat naps, and snuggling if I'm lucky.  In the evening they are typically more demanding and it's a lot of snuggling.

Sad note... the Little Lamb swing that has been our saviour has a short life expectancy.  Even brand new batteries cannot power the mobile and the swing with our chunky monkeys.  It can still swing them, but only if the mobile is off.  We love that swing, and will be sad when it's done.

We've been to the zoo a couple times now.  The chimp actually came over to check US out.

Sean with Collin, Evan and Ryan at the March of Dimes Walk for Babies.

We'll take their 8 month pics today and I'll post them.

Wow, that's a lot.  I'll post more when I know about some future things... such as Evan's possible helmet, maybe tackling cloth diapers, and their 8 month present (2 new strollers, a single Valco Ion and a double Latitude!).