Friday, February 12, 2010

Entering Toddlerville

I still can't believe we are on the "other side" of the girls' first birthday. What a crazy ride it has been. We've watched the girls blossom from the 3,4, and 5 pound preemies that they were, to three healthy beautiful toddlers. They'll always be my babies, but Toddlerville.....Here we come!

The girls are just so much fun to be around. Rachel has a new word.... She's ditched her beloved letter "H" and has moved on to the sounds of the letter S. She likes to say...Shay, shay, shay...over and over again.. Sometimes she says... eeeeshayyyyy... And today, she was saying SSSSSSSSSSSS like a snake all day long. I would say it to her and she'd say it right back. Morgan also joined in on the fun and would say ssshhhhhh sshhhhhh. Totally cute.

Sophia... She is really into the da da da da da. She mostly will say DA Da DAAAAAAA..and it sounds like duh duh dddahhhhhh!!! And sometimes, it sounds just like DIE DIE...which we find to be quite hilarious!

All three of the girls can say some variation of Mama. I hear their little voices in the early morning hours calling for me. Maaa maaaaa. It is the sweetest sound I've ever heard. I do wish that I would hear it closer to 7am rather than 6am. hehehehe....

Morgan is still the best at getting around. She can stand on her own for just a few seconds and then likes to grab onto something to hold her balance. I'm not sure when she'll start walking. I'm not in a hurry for it. Sophia, in the last few weeks, starting to pull up to standing as well. She's even cruising the furniture now. For the first week, she took a lot of falls backward, but she kept trying and we haven't had another incident of that for a while now. Sophia still isn't a good sitter on her bottom. She still pushes backward. I'll be bringing it up with their pediatrician at their one year appointment next week. She does sit just fine in the W position on her knees though. Rachel isn't quite pulling up to standing yet, but she does like to stand with me supporting her. I can tell she's interested in doing it alone, but she's still being pretty cautious. She's doing really well sitting up on her bottom though. I spent a long time worrying about Sophia and Rachel being a little bit behind. They do catch up, just at their own pace...which is okay with me. I have to remember how tiny they were and that they were born 5 weeks early!

Sophia and Rachel have also mostly given up crawling.... for walking on their knees. Its the funniest thing I've ever seen. They literally just walk around on their knees. Sometimes if they want to get somewhere faster, they will crawl.....but mostly they are little kneewalkers. Sophia started it and Rachel was quick to follow. Morgan doesn't mess around with that though. She just speed crawls right around her sisters taking their toys along the way!

The girls are all clapping. If you clap for them, they will clap for you. They also like to sit in my lap and grab my hands and make me clap! I don't even mind that when they do it, they pinch me REALLY HARD!!!! We also play a game in their high chairs... I count 1,2,3 then say.. "put your hands up," and then I put my hands up over my head. I've been doing this with them for a few months now. They've always loved it. In the past 2 weeks, they now put their hands up when I do. Its so cute to watch. When I say 1,2,3...I can see the anticipation in their eyes and they get their hands ready to "put up."

So yeah, they are growing so fast! I will say...come see mommy and they will come to me. I really think they are starting to understand some things.

Oh and the big news... We are OFF baby formula and fully transitioned to WHOLE MILK! That's right people....no more spending the big bucks on formula!!!! Woo hoo!!!

I'm sure I forgot something, but its getting late and I need to get to bed! Rachel is doing really well at night now. This mommy is finally getting some sleep! There is talk of putting Rachel back in the room with Morgan and Sophia. We'll have to give it just a little more time, but we're getting close to reclaiming our bedroom!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

First Birthday Party

The girls had a wonderful first birthday party. We were so happy to share the girls' birthday with all of our family and friends....old and new! We have been blessed with so many people who just love our girls!

We had a fun Elmo and Sesame Street theme and enjoyed a yummy lunch of lasagna, salads, and rolls..... then the girls played for a while before digging into their cakes. They were SO CUTE! Rachel didn't surprise us at all. She mostly just touched her cake and would bring a bit to her mouth....then promptly toss the bit on the floor, rinse and repeat! Sophia and Morgan dug right in. Within seconds, their cakes were nothing but a pile of sweet sugary crumbs! They chowed down until we stopped them. We can't let a one year old eat an entire smash cake!!!!

The party was a huge success. I was worried that the girls would be overwhelmed with that many people (we had around 30 guests). I seriously thought we'd have meltdowns, but we didn't have any. The girls were so great!

Here is a slideshow of some of the pictures from their day! I can't believe the girls are one and the party is done! *Sigh*



Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Happy Birthday Babies!!!

What an amazing year. I can't even begin to describe the way I am feeling right now. I can't believe my teeny tiny preemies are now toddlers and ONE YEAR old! We made it! I never even jumped off that bridge I joke about hahahahaha.....

Their party is this Saturday so I will be following up with more pictures and birthday details then. Here is a pic from today! Happy Birthday girls! I love you SO MUCH!!!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Spaghetti

A couple of days ago, the girls had spaghetti for the first time. I just cooked the noodles and put meatless sauce on it. I don't think my girls would go for ground beef just yet. They like to spit things out that have too much texture. We had two out of three just LOVE the spaghetti!!! Sophia and Morgan ate it all up and were so excited that they played with the noodles and spread them alllllll over their trays before actually putting the food in their mouths! But they did end up eating every last bit on their trays.

Rachel was a different story. If its not a cheerio on her tray, she isn't interested. She did take a couple of bites, but she mostly played with gravity and tossed her noodles on the floor. She will usually play around with whatever food I put on her tray. She'll eat a little bit of it but would clearly rather have the baby food. When I whip out those jars to supplement their food, she practically jumps out of her chair with excitement. Its pretty cute.

So on to pictures....

Sophia and her noodle artwork. She was just shoveling the food right on in!



Morgan....nom nom nom.... Thank you Mommy for finally giving us something new!!!


Rachel... Where are my cheerios? What are you trying to do to me Mommy?

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

In two weeks...

My babies will be one year old. How is this possible? They were just born a few days ago.

Where. Has. Time. Gone?

Saturday, January 16, 2010

So much to do...and eating my own words!

First I'd like to report that our sweet Rachel has slept like a perfect little angel for the past three nights in a row! We think she heard us talking about putting her back in the girls' room last week. We think she just wanted to stay in the room with me just a little longer. I'm not convinced that she won't keep waking up at night and we don't want her to wake her sisters. So for now, her crib will remain in our bedroom. Not the best arrangement, but Morgan and Sophia are very good sleepers when Rachel isn't waking them up!

Now on to their birthday party planning. Seriously, could I be more of a slacker? Their party is THREE little weeks from today. Have I sent invitations? no... Have I bought invitations? Yikes..NO! Have I planned anything? Yeah, not really..... maybe a little.

I did visit our local Party City store last night to try and get the ball rolling. I found out they have some great custom invitations that are fast and affordable. I'm going to go get them ordered tomorrow during nap time. The guy said he would process them quickly for me and have them ready for pick up on Monday! WOOT! Maybe he took pity on my desperation?

So that means I need to plan everything today. We already know the date and the place.... I just need to figure out the time and the invitation wording. I have tonight to do that. I've been looking forward to this for quite some time. I guess I am just a procrastinator at heart!

I also have to admit that I am eating my own words. Open mouth, insert foot... or in this case, insert everything I've ever said about first birthday parties! You see, I have to admit.... I have SERIOUSLY made fun of some friends who have these big first birthday parties for their baby. That was before I became a mother myself. I had NO IDEA how much this matters to mothers. Not only is it a celebration of your baby's (or in our case BABIES) first year, but it is also a celebration that you made it through that difficult first year. Its kind of like a maiden voyage for motherhood. One trip around the sun. This is a BIG DEAL!

In our case, its not only a celebration of their first birthday and the survival of the first year for us, but it is also going to be a BIG thank you to all of our friends, old and new, that have helped make this year so amazing and special. We've been so blessed with so many helpers that have taken the time out of their week to do whatever they can to make things just a little easier for us. I can't even tell you how much our helpers have meant to us.

So to my friends who have had to listen to me tease them...... I apologize! You were right when you told me that I'd understand once I had a baby. In my case, it is THREE babies, but I totally get it now.

Wish me luck.... I have three weeks to get everything planned and ready! I can't believe our babies are almost a year old!

Excuse me, I have to go cry now!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I'm jumping...

This is the second night in a row of Rachel waking up at 11pm. She does NOT get a bottle nor does she get her swing. It's 1:25AM and I might have to jump if she doesn't go sleep in about 5 minutes! She was doing so good sleeping ALLLLLLL NIGHT for quite some time now.

But before I go off on some big huge rant..... I'm reverting back to my old rule.

Thou Shalt Not Blog at 3am!

JUMPING................ I need some freakin sleep!