Dear all;
The major milestone has been reached. Last Saturday, we celebrated the one year anniversary of the birth of our children. Despite the sense that their first birthday would never come, we frequently feel like we've been with them our whole life.
My apologies for this being the first update since October, since I know for some of you this is your only access to them. In that time, we've hit a lot of noticeable milestones, including crawling for all three, pulling up to a standing position, and now even walking behind a walker-toy.
In addition, we have gone from bathing the kids in the little hospital tubs they came home with, to the blue plastic bathtub in the kitchen sink. And as of two weeks ago, we have graduated to bathing all three in the big (but too small) bathtub...together! James is still a little uneasy in there, but the girls love it. Poor guy is still very skinny, and has his father's intolerance for cold temperatures. It's a little trying with just the two of us trying to dry off one baby at a time, so frequently our friend Peggy will come over for bath nights and take a baby (usually the easygoing CarrieAnna).
Smiles and laughing have always been commonplace in our house, and now the kids are joining in as well. Holly was the first to find the joys of making the other kids laugh, after learning to do peek-a-boo with her blanket, and get James to crack up while they were all in their cribs. CarrieAnna will now do peek-a-boo back to Holly. Last night the girls were also playing together, a little follow the leader crawling and laughing.
The months haven't all be good, though. There was about six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's where they were sick on and off the whole time. It was a pain during the day, because they were all fussy, and not eating very well (which translates into hundreds of dollars of formula poured down the drain), but the nights were a throwback to the early weeks when we were doing well to get six straight hours of sleep. Ugh.
We've been out a few times now, including our second overnight! Unfortunately, the kids are now in the phase where they won't eat for anyone else anymore. CarrieAnna usually will take some, but James and Holly will fight tooth and nail not to take the bottle.
The house has gone through more changes in the arrangement of the toys and furniture. The swings are no longer being used, and we've moved the couch and the love seat against the same wall to give us virtually no conversation area, but more space for toys to be spread out on the floor. James is a big fan of the "jumper" toy, which is mounted on the beam in the center of the family room (due to the lack of door frames on the main floor). They also got a Little Tikes Garden play area that they all seem taken with.
We use three gates on the main floor, supplemented by a Superyard (a six-sided play yard) broken up and placed around the TV and an end table. When we go visiting, the Superyard usually goes with us for instance baby proofing.
At their one year checkup, the kids all looked good, albeit a little smaller than I'd hoped. That's not surprising given the long spell when they weren't eating overly well. I don't have the exact heights and weights (sorry) but I think it's something like this:
Holly 17.75lbs, 28.5 inches
James 15.75lbs, 27 inches
CarrieAnna 16.75lbs, 28 inches
I do recall at the nine-month checkup that CarrieAnna was 3/4 of an inch TALLER than Holly. Funny how they grow at different times.
Their personalities all seem to be pretty well rooted since birth, after looking back at early video. Holly is getting much more self-reliant after a long spell of apparent attention deprivation. James will clench his fists in anger sometimes, but laughs and plays and keeps the vast majority of his food down (yay!). CarrieAnna is usually very patient and happy, which translates into her getting fed last at every feed.
As usual, I have pictures waiting to go on the web. Filling out the tax return is the first priority, but I'll try to get the photos up there before the next (monthly?) update.
In the meantime, hope to see you all soon!
Chipp
http://geocities.datacellar.net/Heartland/Ranch/7550
or
http://chipp.kuldell.com