Christmas 2010

This Christmas was very different than last Christmas, the girls actually took a lot of interest in opening their gifts and even had some reactions for the gifts that were toys.  They enjoyed the wrapping paper and boxes some but once they got a toy that is all they wanted to play with.  

On Christmas Eve we meet at my mom's house at 10am for an early Christmas with my immediate family.  We had a nice brunch and we all opened lots of gifts, the girls got some really adorable dresses and outfits.  They got a few toys but their favorite was the rocking horses my dad built for them, they all loved them and rode for probably 20 minutes straight.  My neice Jayla was so funny she kept telling us who was in the lead and then she would make trumpet sounds and announce the winner and crown the winner with leftover Christmas bows and ribbon, it was really entertaining.

After naps we went to my grandfather's house around 4:30, though it was sad that he was not with us this year I'm glad we still got to continue the tradition.  The girls got some great gifts and were really excited, Savannah pushed her little lawnmower around even though it was really crowded she navigated it through the house it was cute.  Olivia wanted her puzzle opened so we let her play with it for a little while until she was distracted by all of the other kids.  Emma got a broom and dustpan that was a big hit with her, we had to put it away though before she knocked someone out with the handle.  They really enjoyed the food and would stick around anyone willing to give them a bite, we are so fortunate that they don't have allergies and we can allow them to wander around munching on snacks.  My cousin Nikole was their favorite and she was surrounded by all 3 for a good while cutting up hotdogs into ittty bitty pieces for them, I'm not sure she ever got to eat a hotdog herself.



On Christmas morning the girls came down the stairs and Savannah saw that there was toys (especially the big slide) and she stopped and pointed and jibber jabbered you could tell she was excited.  We opened gifts and the girls enjoyed that but I think their favorite gift was the indoor slide from Santa, they love it and played with very little else on Christmas morning. Around lunch time we headed down to have lunch with my parents and extended family the girls enjoyed themselves but it was right at their nap time so we tried to lay them down which did not work well.  The girls really had a nice time and it was fun to see them so excited but we were exhausted so we all took a nap when we got back home around 4.  It really was a lovely day for our family.  We are excited to get to do it all over again when Scott's parents and grandmother arrive in a few days.

Emma Sliding



Olivia sliding

Savannah riding the mini quad car



Merry Christmas to All

Videos

We have been slack at putting up videos this one is from last month of the girls doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Patty Cake.  The next one is of Emma walking on her knees and Olivia walking around. Since this video Emma has been walking on her feet a lot more but when she gets excited or is in a hurry she opts for her knee walking.

An Update From Scott - The First Month

After 9 months of watching the girls I have found a new job. I actually started this job at the beginning of November. Again I am working at Wachovia/Wells Fargo. Every day I get up at 6 in the morning so I can leave the house by 6:45 so I can arrive at work at 7:30. I only take a half hour lunch so that I am able to leave work at 4 so I can make the return trip home and let the nanny go home. Sarah has cut back on her hours slightly which has allowed her to see the girls more at night and it allows us to have a little bit extra time in the evening so we can go out with the girls if we have the energy to do so.

The girls are getting so tall. They are still as lean as ever, but that is probably because they are so busy. I get tired just watching how busy they are. The girls all eat a lot of food now and it is a challenge to feed them new foods, but I think they like new things. The girls are learning to use spoons with limited success, while creating big messes. The number of words they can say is slowly increasing, and I am sure that one day the number of words they say are going to increase exponentially. My personal favorite is the way Savannah says Daddy, not just because it is daddy, but because it is really cute when she says it.

The biggest challenge we face right now is doing the grocery shopping. When I was at home, I would hire someone to come in on one day so I could go do the grocery shopping during the day. Now that I work I do not have that luxury, and we are forced to either go alone at night, or to take the girls with us when we get back from work or go on the weekend. The girls are getting to be more fun every day. They now do patty-cake, the itsy bitsy spider, and other songs and nursery rhymes. They toys are slowly overwhelming our house, yet we can still keep them all in the playroom. The house still has baby gates everywhere. At the present time we have 5 baby gates scattered through the house.

The girls are also still sleeping in their cribs. We have not had to convert them to toddler beds yet. Hopefully it will stay that way for a while. The girls have been doing well at both naps and night time. They go to bed well and most of the times sleep through the night. Savannah is the weakest link with sleeping through the night. It seems that about once a week she will wake up during the night. I will go into the room and hold her until she is content and lay her back down. Normally this takes less than 30 minutes, but after this it can be a bit hard to fall asleep, and I end up losing an hour of sleep. This brings me to the point that at night I try to get in bed at 10 which never ever happens and I end up going to bed at 11. This means that if I slept all the way through the night I would be getting 7 hours of sleep. At one point in my life this worked fine for me, but this amount is a bit hard for me right now. Maybe after a couple more months of this schedule I will be able to handle it better.

While at work I miss the girls a lot and look forward to seeing them when I get home. Right now I am able to beat Sarah home on Tuesdays and Thursdays which is great since I am able to get the bigger welcome from the girls when I get home. When I get home they run to the baby gate by the front door. Savannah and Emma normally give me kisses while Olivia runs to the gate to say hello then is off to play some more. I have to admit that the best part about working again is the welcome I get when I get home. It is one of the biggest highlights of my day.

Sarah and I are both excited about Christmas. We have bought the girls many things for Christmas which we think the girls will really like. The week after Christmas my parents and grandmother are supposed to visit. I am excited about seeing them since I do not see them often. Hopefully we will be able to update the blog shortly after Christmas so you can all see the exciting Christmas the girls had.

16 Month Update

The girls turned 16 months old the day before Thanksgiving, so I haven't had a chance to do an update until now.  We had a great Thanksgiving with them at my Aunt's they loved running around with all of the other kids and thought they were big enough to do all the stuff the other kids were doing.  It was challenging watching them all, but we made it through and had a nice time. 

Here is an update on a few things:

Words:
We are surprised how quickly they pick up new words, they have some that are the same and some that are different, here are the ones that they all say:
Duck, Done, Up, Kitty, Dog, Mommy, Daddy, Stop

Here are just a few of their 'own' words:
Emma: Cow, Uh-oh
Olivia: Please, Yes, Juice, Thank You
Savannah: Bird, Me, Thank You

Teeth:
Emma: 4 molars
Olivia: no molars
Savannah: 4 molars

Each of their personalities has come out more and more.  Here is more on each girl:

Emma is very sweet and sensitive, she likes to sit in your lap and point at things and tell you things you can't understand. She is gentle and gives into her sisters probably more than she should. She loves to watch Yo Gabba Gabba.  Emma laughs and smiles all the time, if someone laughs Emma will often smile or laugh too.  Emma still walks on her knees a lot but we see her also walk on her feet more and more so we think she will be on her feet all the time very soon.  Emma is very friendly and outgoing, when we go out she is the first to let someone else hold her.

Olivia is very funny, she likes to play with her toys by herself and often hoards a type of toy such as blocks or little people and she carries them around in something like a grocery cart or she hides them under a pillow.  She does not like to share and gets upset if someone messes up her stash of toys.  She has the biggest belly laugh and loves it when daddy says, "I'm going to get you", she immediately bursts into giggles and tries to run or hide.  She is typically the most content and can play and entertain herself for hours.

Savannah is very mischievous we have found her 'tempting' her sisters with toys lately.  She will take a toy she knows they like and take it to them and act like she is going to give it to them, but as soon as they reach for it she jerks it away and runs.  We have had to start getting onto her about teasing her sisters.  Savannah is very smart and picks up on words the fastest.  She is also a very happy baby, she runs around laughing and jabbering all day.  At night though she is worn out and loves to cuddle on the couch with mommy.  She is very independent so I really enjoy our cuddle time at night.  It is surprising that when we go out she is very clingy and shy.



Left to right: Savannah, Olivia, Emma



Triplet Interactions

Over the last few months the girls have taken a lot more interest in each other.  Sure they have played together for a long time now and they have fought over toys and such, but now it seems that they actually care about their sisters.  For example the other day I was sitting on the floor and Savannah fell down and cried a little.  I asked her if she was ok, she looked at me got up and got up and whimpered a little and I said are you ok honey, she pulled it together and took off to play some more so I said good you're ok.  Then later that day Olivia was crying over something, I was sitting in the floor with her and Savannah comes over to her gets right in her face and says 'k'...Olivia doesn't respond but she looks at her sister a little puzzled like she knows she is communicating with her.  Savannah then gets a little louder and closer to her and says 'k'?  She then gives up and walks away, but I thought it was super sweet that she was checking on her sister. 

Another thing happened last night, Emma was crying over something and I was holding her and stroking her hair to calm her down and Savannah walks over to us and starts 'stroking' Emma's hair too...her stroking wasn't exactly gentle but you could tell that she was trying to make Emma feel better and do what mommy was doing.  How can that not make your heart melt...so sweet.

We have also noticed that the girls like to give kisses to each other at night before going to bed, they usually giggle while exchanging 'kisses'.  They also find it humurous to stick their fingers and hands in each others mouths, they just laugh and laugh about it.  We are always surprised that they know this is a game and not to bite each other.

Trick or Treating

I wanted to do a quick update on how Trick or Treating went on Sunday night.  We got the girls ready after their 4pm milk...on a separate note we took away their bottles on Saturday and they were not happy about that, they aren't drinking as well from their sippies so they are a little extra fussy.   We then took the girls out for some individual pictures first and I think we got some really cute ones.  We then attempted a group picture which turned out pretty good (see our Halloween post).  We then headed over to see a neighbor around 5:30 and we got our first round of candy.  We let them each have a few M&Ms and part of a hershey kiss.  Savannah got attached to her yellow M&M and would not eat it and instead held it in her hand...so we learned that M&Ms do melt in your hands and so we had to take it away which resulted in sobbing (and very yellow hands).

At 6 we ate a very quick dinner and my parents and sister's family arrived.  Bethany was a ballerina (but at other Halloween events she had been tinker bell and a princess, she has a hard time deciding on one thing) and Jesse was a vampire.  We loaded the girls in the choo-choo wagon and Bethany and Jesse were going to walk, but Jesse took one look at the choo-choo and said nope, he screamed and kept saying train train...he wanted to be in the train so Scott got out the 4th car and we all helped him attach it (since the girls were already buckled in this was not easy).  So then we had 4 kids and at several houses we were asked if they were quads.  Bethany and I walked ahead of everyone and ran to the houses while the triplets and Jesse stayed on the sidewalk, but Bethany would sometimes ask if she could take them all a piece of candy too.  The girls were fascinated by all of the lights, costumes, and sounds.  They each picked a piece of candy out of their pails and held it/chewed it during the ride.  By the time we got home only Olivia had actually gotten into her piece of candy.

It was a beautiful night out and great participation from our neighborhood, Bethany had a tons of candy (the triplets and Jesse only had 'a lot') and we only did a very small loop.  I think everyone had lots of fun, we saw all kinds of different costumes, there was even a little ballerina (around 2 years old) that Bethany really liked pointing out and a girl dressed as a donught which was cute.  I forgot how much fun it can be to trick-or-treat and yes of course mom and dad raided the girls baskets that night but we resisted the urge to eat it all.



Here are some more pictures

 



Ladybug Emma

 



Butterfly Olivia





Bumblebee Savannah