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!

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 :)