2.29.11 ~ 20 months

Okay, I know there isn't a February 29th this year...so either the girls stay 19 months old for another month or I make up a date :) Toddlerhood and the terrible twos are rapidly approaching in this house. The girls have all learned a valuable word in the English language. No. This is a very useful skill when I ask them if they want to take their coat off. Not very useful if I ask them to do something and they very appropriately refuse. It started with sweet Brelynn in the kitchen a few weeks ago. Dan asked her to do something and she shook her head and said 'no'. His first response was to look at me and ask when they started using that word. That was the first time. Then came time out. They're learning the boundaries and pushing them just a bit right now. They are generally doing really well and playing with each other for longer periods of time. They are either fighting less or learning how to work out their issues on their own...either way I'm happy about it.

Developmentally they are using so many words and phrases now. They will say 'I love you' which just melts my heart. They give good hugs and kisses and love to sing and play games. We listen to kid music during the day and whenever 'row, row, row your boat' and 'the hokey pokey' come on they run into the kitchen and start playing along. They are all running and climbing now. We are still blessed to have good sleepers, usually 13-14 hours at night and 1-2 hours during the day. We have noticed some attempts at climbing out of cribs but so far no successful attempts. I'm really looking forward to nicer weather so we can get outside for walks and trips to the park and I'm sure the girls are, too. Avery is almost done teething. She has cut her last 4 teeth so once they are in she'll be done. The other girls have a few more teeth to go until they're done.

That's all I can think of for now...we're already looking forward to an exciting summer of vacations and birthdays!

2.22.11 ~ babies

The girls love their baby dolls. Well, they used to anyway. They would hug them and kiss them and feed them little bottles of milk and share their cookies and tuck them in under the blankets. Used to. Today they decided it was much more fun to injure their babies. I guess this seals the deal that there will be no more babies in this house!

Avery in heart shirt and blue pants, Brelynn in light pink shirt and dark pink pants, Camille in dark pink shirt and purple pants.

1.29.11 ~ 19 months

Hmmm...what's new with the girls this month? I'm trying to think if there are any major milestones. I think Avery and Camille are having more gross motor development lately. Avery can jump with both feet coming off the floor and Camille can almost jump. Brelynn isn't jumping yet, but she's picking up speed and you could almost call it running. Avery and Camille can independently do a summersault. Brelynn tries but it looks more like standing on her head and falling over sideways :) And the climbing...oy! I'm pretty sure one of the girls (Avery?) climbed onto our kitchen table and pulled my coffee cup off last week. How she did it I'll never know. I think Brelynn is working on catching up with her sisters in the gross motor development and she's pulling ahead in her communication. She is starting to say some short 2-word phrases like 'dada work' and '(where) dogdog go?' in addition to all the requests for more food (they all say/sign 'more ____ please', usually asking for crackers or cookies). They all know so many body parts (all the obvious ones plus sometimes elbow, eyebrow, knee, shoulder, chin, cheek). The girls love their fruits and veggies and have been known to put down a cookie to eat broccoli or beans. But don't worry, they also love chocolate milk and licking the beaters after I make frosting. In fact, Camille loves food so much that she ate too much and threw up in her crib after we put her to bed this week. I found 'the incident' in the morning and felt terrible that she had to sleep with that in her crib all night. I really hope it's a very, very long time before anyone gets sick again. Apparently I don't handle puke very well. Blood, no problem, but vomit...it's not for me.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful girls. They're starting to play together for a little while at times throughout the day. I've caught them pushing each other on the swing and giggling and sharing toys without me asking them to lately. I know the terrible two's are knocking on the door (tantrums are also getting more frequent), but for now I'm going to enjoy the moment and consider myself such a lucky mommy!

1.27.11 ~ Glasses

We had the girls follow up eye appointment today...I'm happy to report that nobody needs glasses and we don't have to go back for a year! There was concern that Brelynn would need glasses after her last appointment but her eyes have corrected so she doesn't. She must have liked wearing the glasses at the optometrist because when we got home she grabbed the empty Guinness box from the recycling and put it on to make her own glasses :) Sorry about the picture quality...it was taken with my phone and she wouldn't hold still.

--Sent from my Virgin Mobile

1.24.11 ~ playing outside

More pics from some of our walks when it's not raining. 

Brelynn (polkadot hat) in her usual open mouth pose



Avery (purple hat)



Camille (striped hat)

some perspective on how big the girls are :)

ring around the rosie...awww

come on sissy...let's go!

And from another day...Avery (striped hat,/green shirt), Brelynn (purple hat/purple shirt),

Camille (polka dot hat/pink shirt)

1.15.11 ~ Keepin' busy

The girls are getting more and more adventurous and are bored playing inside all day. I've started planning some sort of structured activity each day that I'm with them solo (weekends are usually busy enough to keep them happy, plus Daddy is home!). We usually rotate activities like having story time, going for walks, coloring pictures, playing with playdoh, baking cookies, and vacuuming. Huh? Yep, the girls LOVE the vacuum. They used to be scared of it, now I can barely keep them off it long enough to clean the floors. They help with laundry by taking clothes into the laundry room and putting them in the washer. We're training them to be good little cleaners and bakers :)

Other big news is that I'm going to be going back to work at Seattle Children's Hospital very part time (6 days per month plus paperwork from  home) for the next 5-6 months. I'll be covering a maternity leave and working in the Craniofacial Clinic (mostly kids with cleft palate and different syndromes). We are so lucky that I'll be working on Mondays which is Dan's day off plus two other days per month so each Grandma will watch the girls one day per month. I'm looking forward to the challenge and just hope that there's enough time to get my paperwork done without staying up too late.

Here are some recent pics of the girls

Camille

Brelynn

Avery

1.4.11 ~ Weigh-ins

We had the girls' 18 month well child visits today and got some great news..."They're doing better than your typical 18 month olds." YAY!  Their social skills and communication are way ahead of their peers and all other areas are at least at age level. Well, except for Camille's weight, but the doctor isn't a bit concerned about it. Here are the official stats (percentiles as compared to other 18 month olds):

Avery~wt:21;1 (8%ile), ht:31.75" (50%ile), head: 55%ile
Brelynn~wt:23;4 (30%ile), ht:32.25" (55%ile), head: 92%ile
Camille~wt:18;13 (<3%ile), ht:30.63" (24%ile), head: 65%ile

We don't have another visit scheduled until they turn two and we didn't have to get any shots today! All in all it was a great visit. I treated the girls to McDonnald's chicken nuggets on the way home and I got a warm beverage from Starbuck's :)