7.29.10 ~ 13 months

Many more milestones and updates this month. The girls are showing us more and more of their personalities...fun at times and not so fun at times :)

Communication: language skills are exploding and this speech pathologist couldn't be prouder of her girls. They are picking up a new animal sound, sign, or word almost daily now. Avery and Brelynn are a bit more verbal and Camille is a bit quicker to pick up the signs, but they're all doing extremely well. One or more will sign: eat, milk, water, more, all done, bye bye, sleep, and bird. They will say: bye bye, done, up, mama, dada, grandma, more, night night, num num, dog, and banana. They will make monkey sounds, dog panting sounds, cow sounds, and horse sounds. I'm sure there's more but I can't think of them now. Even more impressive than their communication is their comprehension. It amazes me the things they understand (and sometimes the things they'll do on command). To recap first words for prosperity's sake...Brelynn's was 'ball', Avery's was 'banana', and Camille's was 'dogdog'.

Teeth: Camille has her bottom two teeth, Brelynn has her bottom two and the top two are just through the gums, Avery has her bottom two and she has three top ones through the gums now. They are getting toothy little smiles :)

Motor: Camille has taken up to 6 steps independently and will frequently take 3-4 steps now before diving out in a superman style dive.  Avery is cruising on furniture and is starting to stand up in the middle of the room on her own. Brelynn is mostly scooting on her bottom and is surprisingly mobile this way. She's starting to crawl a little bit here and there in the last few weeks. She will often roll over now and is able to get herself into a sitting position (on Father's Day for the first time).

Feeding: still going strong on the eating front. They drink 2 bottles (morning and night) and eat 3 meals and a snack or two during the day. Watermelon and avocados are favorites right now. They can all now drink from a sippy cup and a straw independently.

Sleeping: With all the fun of vacation, the girls started going to bed earlier, about 6:30 now. They are sleeping all night and getting up between 6 and 7 usually, but we do get the occasional 7:30 wake up which is heavenly. They are down to only 2 naps now during the day. It's a great schedule.

The big excitement is that my brother is getting married on Saturday, August 7th and the girls are flower girls. We're going to pull them down the aisle in a wagon. It may be the cutest thing in the whole world. Or it could go horribly wrong and still be cute. Either way, more to come on that...

Finally, we tried to get pictures of the whole family yesterday, but didn't get many in focus. Here's the best one we got. I don't know why I'm being such a dork...just imagine my eyes are open and I'm looking at the camera instead of off in la-la land :)

7.26.10 ~ We have a walker!

Camille has been close to walking for weeks now, but she finally took her first steps today! We were playing with our friend, Ben, when she took 4-5 steps several times in a row. The trick...holding on to green onions (maybe she felt like she was still holding on to us? Who knows.) Now we'll have to wait to see how long it takes her to realize it's much faster, and easier on the knees, to walk instead of crawling!  Way to go, Super Cam!

More Sunriver

the girls got to watch the annual baseball game from the sidelines this year. They all liked to hold the frisbee, but then it turned into the dinner plate and we ate lunch :) Yum!

July 10-17 ~ Sunriver 2010

We had a great time at Sunriver again this year. The girls really did well on the 10 1/2 hour drive and we made sure to stop every few hours to let them play. They ate well and slept well, putting themselves to bed at 6:30 each night (and I'm happy to say the earlier bedtime continued once we got home).

We went on walks, played in the house, floated in the hot tub (cooled off of course!), ate yummy food, and enjoyed time with amazing people. One of the girls' favorite things was the swimming pool at Mavrick's and we went most afternoons to wear them out :)

6.29.10 ~ the first year

How is it possible that these girls are a year old already? They're growing and learning so much, I'm sure they're all highly gifted individuals.  Can you believe how far they've come???

Avery was born at 10:26 pm weighing 3 pounds, 5 ounces and was 16 inches long.  She spent 28 days in the NICU and then came home and taught us how to care for a baby (her sisters will thank her when they're older). She is now 17 pounds, 7ounces and 28.5 inches long. She's at the 4th percentile for weight and 25th for height compared to other 12 monthers. We (mainly me) call her Avery, A-Ray, and Munchkin. She is starting to talk and says mama, dada, night night, banana, ball, dog?, diaper, and all done. She can point to my nose now and understands quite a few words (she will look at or go get items that I name). She just cut both top front teeth last week so she now has 4 that have broke through. She's crawling everywhere and pulling to stand on everything and everyone (sorry, Brelynn). She loves playing peek-a-boo, throwing a ball, and being tickled.

Brelynn was born at 10:28 pm weighing 3 pounds, 14 ounces. She spent 49 days in the NICU and came home to keep Avery company and show us how little sleep we really needed.  She is now 19 pounds, 3 ounces and 28.75 inches long. She's at the 20th percentile for weight and 35th for height compared to other 12 monthers.We call her Brelynn, Bre Bre, and Berlin (from one of the NICU doctors). She is also starting to talk and says mama, dada, night night, (ba)nana, and ball. She's not crawling yet, but she's showing a lot of interest in becoming mobile. She is holding strong with just her bottom two teeth. Her favorite thing in the world is riding on Dan's shoulders. And Jell-O.

Camille was born at 10:29 pm weighing only 3 pounds. She spent 61 days in the NICU and finally came home so we could be a WHOLE family. No more back and forth trips to Overlake...but we did still have her feeding tube for about 10 more days until we could all figure out how to get her to eat enough. It was then that we learned how a mere hour of sleep was a blessing and we could survive on just a few hours a day. Fast forward and now she's 16 pounds, 3 ounces and 27.5 inches long. She's still below the 3rd percentile for weight and at the 7th for height compared to other 12 monthers.We call her Camille, Camille-y, Cam, and Super Cam (yes, after the rock climbing gear). She babbles a ton and signs all done but isn't talking much just yet. She is by far our most mobile baby. She's starting to walk behind a push toy and will be walking independently in no time. She finally cut some teeth and now has her bottom two poking through a bit. She loves spinning in circles with Dan (a game we call dizzy-dizzy), crawling, and being independent.

We are so blessed to have these girls in our lives. It's been a wild and crazy year, but we wouldn't trade this experience for anything. We love you girls so much!

6.28.10 ~ The Seattle Aquarium

In an effort to celebrate the girls' birthday as much as possible, Dan & I took them to the Seattle Aquarium. They liked splashing in the water at the touch tank and trying to grab starfish and sea cucumbers. They were fascinated by the Window on Washington Waters display where they could touch the glass as the giant fish swam by. We also got root beer floats and the girls each got a tiny taste of ice cream, which they loved! (Sorry for the picure quality on the last 3...I didn't have time to adjust settings)

On their actual birthday we kept pretty close to home for the most part. They had their 12 month well child appointment and each got three shots. Later in the day we headed to Red Robin for dinner and then to the UW to be guest speakers for the Expecting Multiples parenting series that we took just over a year ago. I think we scared those poor twin parents to death :) After such a busy weekend we are all exhausted, but what an amazing birthday weekend!

6.27.10 ~ Birthday party!

We did it...we pulled off a successful 1st birthday party for these girls. A huge thanks to all the people who helped out with set up, take down, food preparation, and extra eyes and hands with the girls during the party.  We ended up with about 60 adults, 15 kids, and 5 dogs in attendance.  We had a ton of food, fun, family, and friends.

 

  

The eating of the cakes...it was way past nap time so Camille and then Brelynn got tired, but Avery went to town on her cake and ate most of it. 

and splashing in the water (aka washing off the cake!)

Our girls are ONE! Thank you to everyone who helped us survive this first year. We couldn't have done it without all the help and support of our wonderful family and friends.