Almost 2...

These boys... seems like every day there is a new word they are saying, or something new they are getting into.  And we are loving every minute!  Sadly, they are already over the novelty of giving kisses.  Kisses are few and far between :(  Now they say "ow" for everything... getting a diaper change "ow", getting their hair brushed "ow", everything gets an "ow".  Surely not everything we are doing with these boys is torture!    They go in Time Out when they hit, throw, bite, etc., and they tattle on each other, boys doing something naughty get a "no no no" from their innocent (for now) brother.  They all love to be tickled, and it's so cute to watch them laugh.  They also love to crash into each other and run each other over... such boys :)

They are pretty good at walking and holding hands, thankfully.  But we still don't go anywhere without two of use to their 3, just not enough hands.  They know lots of animals now, but call them by their sound, horses are "neigh", cows are "moo", sheep are "baa".  Except dogs and cats, those names they have had down for a long time!  Some of their first words.  They are also good at recognizing body parts and pointing them out (toes, head, etc.).  Cars and trucks and tractors are some of their favorites!  They get really excited, cars are "vroom", and trucks and definitely tractors they call by name.  They still love books, one of their favorite things is sitting in our laps to read a book, or they'll grab one and climb up on a chair or plop on a pillow on the floor and flip through it on their own.  Sometimes they even babble while they are doing it and I wonder what stories they are making up :)

Personality wise, Evan is very determined, pretty stubborn, relentless.  Once he figures out how to do something or how to get what he wants, he does it over and over regardless of what we try to do to interfere!  Opening drawers, getting things he shouldn't have, finding a cord, if he wants to do it or get to it, he will.  Evan is pretty independent, chill, and easy going.  Ryan desperately wishes he was an only child.  He loves his brothers, but he wants to be held by one of us all the time, and good luck trying to set him down or get away to tend to one of his brothers.  There have been days I have had to set him down screaming just to change another boy's dirty diaper.  Ryan seems to think about things, more serious and reserved.  Collin is playful and adventurous.  He was the first to climb on the little table next to the couch and then fling himself on to the couch.  He is a fish.  He loves the water whether it is a pool or a bathtub, he will splash and play as long as we let him.

Most of the time they will eat pretty much anything, Evan especially.  Except Ryan, he doesn't vary much from his favorites (fruit, carbs), but since he is the biggest it doesn't seem to hold him back!  And they are all getting really good at spoons and forks.  Pretty soon it will be time for booster seats, they love to sit in chairs like big boys :)

Big changes coming next week, the boys will start Children's Day Out at the church Mondays and Wednesdays.  I'm excited for them to have a chance to socialize more with other kids, and have some structured learning.  Our days at home are pretty much a free for all, with the structure being the times we eat and nap, but that's about all.  Hopefully all goes well and they love it!

Time flies...

Wow, life just never gets easier... Time has flown by, and these boys are growing up before our eyes!  I'll edit the post later to add in the stats from their last few doctors visits (I hope), but if I don't write this when I get the chance, it won't get done!

The boys dropped their morning nap a few months ago, we were all really sad to see it go... They still have an afternoon nap that is pretty good, and sometimes great :)  And they still sleep about 12 hours at night, going to bed between 7-8pm and waking up between 7:30-8:30am.  Which is fantastic!  And critical for our sanity.  Speaking of dropping things, we stopped pacifiers cold turkey a few months ago, they were only getting them for naps and bedtime, and I just didn't give it to them for an afternoon nap, and it went so well we just didn't give them to them again!  Such good boys.  The key for us I think is doing it before they can ask for it, they were still at the stage where if they saw it they wanted it, but if they didn't they sort of forgot.

They are running around like crazy, and starting to climb things (like onto the kitchen table).  Definitely very, very active.  But they love to sit and "read" books.  It's so cute, they even "talk" out loud when they do it.  Or one will grab a book and bring it over to sit on my lap for me to read it to him.  Sigh, love, love, love.  We sometimes let them take books to bed with them, and as we leave they will be sitting in their cribs, each flipping through a board book "reading".

They are major chatterboxes.  Everything right now is "whazzzat?"  Which is "what's that?"  I mean, everything.  Shirt, window, shoe, cat, cup, you name it, if a boy can point at it, we'll be asked "whazzzat" about 50 million times.  But it is SO CUTE.  They are little sponges, absorbing everything.  They can say lots of words, and know a lot of animal noises.  The favorite is "Baaaa" when we ask what a sheep says, or when they see a sheep.  They give kisses.  LOVE.  If I ask for a kiss, or pucker up, they will pucker too and run over, and make a "muah" sound and everything.  Heart. Melting.

I'll try to post some pics of the last trip to the ranch in Nebraska, and we go again next week so I might combine them when I get back.  We split the trip there and stayed in Concordia, Kansas, arriving at midnight.  The boys had slept fantastic since leaving around 8, but as soon as we got there there was no going to sleep.  About 2 hours later the tears finally stopped, or at least I fell asleep, one or the other :(  The way home we cancelled our plans to do the same thing and drove all the way through, stopping at a McD's Playplace for a bit to let them stretch their legs.  I don't think traveling will ever be easy, but the way home was definitely preferable to the hotel experience.  Sean was afraid the hotel was going to kick us out, I don't want to repeat that experience any time soon.

This is all I have time for now, lots more to update, I'll try to be back again soon...

15 Months and Christmas!

Wow, where has the time gone?  These boys are running around the house like they own the place, which they have officially taken over.  They are just amazing, such a joy, though they can also wear us out!  Their minds are really clicking these days, and it doesn't take them long to catch on to anything.

Collin:
22# 10oz (just suffered from a stomach bug, a little on the light side), 25%
31.25" tall 50-75%
47cm head 75%

Evan:
23# 5oz 25-50%
32.25" tall 75-90%
49.5cm head 95-97%

Ryan:
23# 7oz 25-50%
30.75" tall 25-50%
48cm head 75%

We had a great Christmas, though it was exhausting, both for us and the boys.  We had a wonderful time visiting with family, time really flew by.  Here are some pics...

 Evan

 Collin

Ryan

Evan is in green, Ryan in red, and Collin in blue :)

14 Months

Here are the wild animals in their Halloween costumes... Ryan did NOT like to keep his hat on, and Evan kept losing his booties.  And, needless to say, it is getting difficult if not impossible to get a good picture of all 3 at the same time!

In 2 days the boys will be 14 months old... time flies!  We are still in awe, every day, that we have been blessed with these 3 amazing little boys. They are all cruising like crazy, but Ryan started walking last Wednesday, and Collin took his first steps last Thursday. So far Ryan still crawls more than walks, and Collin only walks a little ways a few times a day, but it's definitely started. Evan is soooo close too. They say ba-ba, da-da, ma-ma, but we're not quite sure what they mean. They definitely know "uh oh" and they are starting to get really good at "cat" and "dog", though it does take some imagination on the listener's part :)

I don't know how big they are, but they are in 12-18 month clothes and some 18-24. They are big, that's all I can say, they definitely take a little more heft to fling in the air :) They are good eaters for the most part, Ryan is definitely finicky, Collin can be picky, and Evan usually eats anything and everything. They are in love with all fruits, are good with most veggies, any dairy, most bread/crackers, but meat is the toughest thing to get in them. They will usually take deli meat, and sometimes chicken, but meat is definitely our biggest food issue. They love milk in sippy cups, and they'll still drink water when milk isn't offered. They sleep around 12 hours at night still, though the time change means they are getting up an hour earlier. They still nap twice daily for about 2 hours, but those can be touchy and sometimes we have nap fails.

We have big plans for Thanksgiving, and can't wait to celebrate the boys' second Christmas...

1 YEAR!!!

My big boys are ONE YEAR OLD (well, and one week since I'm a bit behind)...

We had a great time celebrating their birthday.  Sean took off work and we went to the zoo in the morning with Neenee who came in for a long weekend.  We then had a mini-party with presents and cupcakes that night for family.  Unfortunately, the cupcakes were a bit of a disaster for Ryan.  Collin ate his and Ryan's, and Evan ate his eventually, but Ryan wanted nothing to do with any of it, he didn't even want cupcakes in his vicinity.  So he cried, I stressed, but we got over it.  They loved the presents, a little taste for what will come with Christmas!  The party on Saturday was fun also, Ryan didn't like his cake but he didn't react quite as strongly and Sean did coax him to eat some frosting.  Again, Collin ate his cake and Ryan's, and Evan eventually ate all of his.  It was really fun, and I'm a little sad it's over.

Here are their pics and stats:

Evan

weight 22# 3oz (25-50%)
height 30.5" (75%)
head 48.5cm (95%!!!... we knew this, he's already making 2T hats snug)

3 top teeth, 2 bottom
Milestones: standing and cruising, first to say "uh oh"
Personality: sweet, bashful smile, snuggly, super chill, least likely to demand attention or food

Ryan

weight 21# 12oz (25-50%)
height 29.5" (25-50%)
head 47cm (50-75%)

2 top teeth, 2 bottom
Milestones: standing and cruising, first to wave and clap
Personality: velcro baby, loves to be held and wants to be with someone at all times if he can (though doesn't guarantee he'll sit still), mostly serious, but very sweet and a giddy smile

Collin

weight 21# 13oz (25-50%)
height 29.5" (25-50%)
head 47.5cm (75-90%)

2 top teeth, 2 bottom
Milestones: standing and cruising, figured out how to open drawers first, stands alone longest
Personality: goofball, almost always happy, but watch out when he's not, big happy smile, on the move!  this boy doesn't sit still, ever...

We have transitioned to 100% whole milk and no more formula or rice cereal.  Yay!  But they are still eating everything in sight, it's hard to keep up.  Still sleeping at least 12 hours at night, but I have to get up a little earlier since we have breakfast now rather than just a morning bottle.  We are doing sippy cups exclusively now, it's not working that well before naps and nighttime, but we're working on it.  Glad to be done with bottles... next it will be the pacifiers, but one thing at a time :)

We are also babyproofing.  They get out of the playpen for a while during the day, and they are into everything!

11 Months... 1 to go!

Evan

Ryan

Collin

I'm delinquent, I can't believe it has been a whole month since I updated.  SO MUCH has changed.  Collin figured out how to sit up from laying down first, then it took about 3 weeks for Evan to catch on, and then Ryan 2 days later.  All the cribs have been lowered since once they could sit up they immediately started to try to pull up.  They were only able to get up on their knees until last week, and now Ryan has pulled all the way up on the ottoman or couch a couple times and Collin pulls up on anything and everything he can... which has led to a few falls :(

They are doing great with eating and finger foods... they'll eat anything and everything, they don't stop eating!  This morning I was eating a muffin and sitting by them, Collin crawled over, pulled up, and before I knew it had a fistful of my muffin!

They really love to be held, Ryan and Collin are the most demanding so we have to make sure Evan gets his time too.  He's so good though, mostly he's content to play and explore on his own.  They are less thrilled with the jumperoos now, they'll play in them but they protest at first and I think it's because they don't want to be contained.  Given half a chance they are all over, so we have fenced in our living room pretty well.  Though they've started to try to pull up (or in Collin's case, actually do it), and it isn't that sturdy so we may have to change a few things.

They are also really vocal.  And they mimic, monkey see monkey do :)  Sean is especially good at getting them to do what he does, whether it be smacking his lips, raspberries, or just saying "ahhhhh".  He'll get all three of them doing it in just a few minutes.  

We've been trying to stay cool, either inside or at the pool.  These boys love the water, and they also LOVE watermelon...

Ryan, Evan, Collin

We also went to the park when it was early on a (rare) cooler morning, i.e. 90 degrees by 9am and not 100.  They loved swinging, and they love their early birthday present, the choo choo wagon!

Evan

Ryan

Collin

I think that's all, I'm trying to get ready for the big day, less than a month to go!  Can't believe how fast time flies...

10 Months!

They have grown so much!  They're huge!  They've started finger foods, and do ok.  Sometimes it takes them a while to swallow, and we have to be careful how much we give them at once because they'll just keep packing it in until they have a mouth full of food that they spit out.  The love Puffs, Mums, fresh and frozen bananas, cheese (colby/monterey jack and mild cheddar), and sweet potatoes (a co-worker told me about the frozen chips that you can steam and mash, but we just thaw the frozen pieces, we have some fresh but haven't tried them yet, I'm assuming I'll have to bake them first to soften them up).  We've also tried bits of fresh and frozen peaches, mangoes, and pears.  They had more trouble with bits of cooked pasta and bread.  They improve every day though, we've been doing them for over a week.

We're trying to decrease the formula as they eat more solids.  They still eat solids twice a day (lunch and dinner), with a 5oz bottle including rice cereal when they wake up, 2.5oz bottle at 2ish before their afternoon nap, and 6oz bottle before bed.  They sleep from 7:30-8pm until 7am, but we often let them hang out in their cribs until closer to 8am.  And occasionally they are really patient and let me sleep in until close to 9 (but not often!).

These big boys are in 12-18 month clothes!  They had outgrown many of their 6-12 month outfits by 9 months, the big bums the cloth diapers give them don't help, but even with regular diapers 6-12 are snug.  They are army crawling still, and haven't figured out how to raise their bellies off the floor, but they are still FAST.  We've fenced off our living room to keep them contained and out of (too much) trouble.  When given access they will follow around the dogs and cats and find water bowls, dog toys, shoes, dust bunnies, you name it.  Collin is a big boy and this week learned to sit himself up from laying down.  It's on our to-do list to lower their cribs, because it's a little disconcerting to walk in after a nap or in the morning and find him sitting up in his crib, where the bar is at or below eye-level.  No evidence of pulling up yet though, which is fine with me!

We've graduated from so many of the things that were essential, no more small bathtub now they can sit in the big bath tub, no more Little Lamb swing, etc.  And soon to be too big for their carseats, they are already close to 40# when they are in them, so we've started leaving the seats in the car and taking the babies in and out on their own.

Evan, with and without helmet

Ryan

Collin (who had just woken up and was hungry and not excited about my photo shoot plans)

Can you BELIEVE how BIG these boys are?!?!  Of course, I still think they are stinking adorable, but they are really starting to fill out that chair!