After coming out of their chairs, guess who was going after the pink hat?
Looking at these pictures, Casey has some major hockey hair sticking out the back. Wow! And he looks so grown up!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Hat Day
In the hopes of not going though another summer of the babies throwing their hats off as soon as I put them on, we have been trying to get them to wear hats in the house throughout the winter. I got them matching hats the other day, blue for Mitchell, green for Casey and pink for Maggie. They liked wearing them while they were still in their highchairs and seemed happy with their designated colors.
After coming out of their chairs, guess who was going after the pink hat?
Looking at these pictures, Casey has some major hockey hair sticking out the back. Wow! And he looks so grown up!
After coming out of their chairs, guess who was going after the pink hat?
Looking at these pictures, Casey has some major hockey hair sticking out the back. Wow! And he looks so grown up!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Not Ready For Art School Yet
So my bright idea of getting the babies some things to color with turned out to be a bit of a flop. I bought some of the color wonder markers and paper, where the markers only show up on this special paper (so they wouldn't be able to color all over the floor, walls, highchairs, etc). I knew that they probably would put them in their mouth but I thought that once they saw that could make marks on the paper they would like it. Well, turns out I was wrong. They had no interest in coloring on the paper. Any of the marks you see in the pictures were from me trying to get them to do it themselves. The markers went straight into their mouths and didn't come out until I took them away. And it turns out their sharp little chompers can bite off the ends of the markers. Yah, not a good thing.
They played with them for quite a while once the lids were back on and had fun pretending to color.
Casey hard at work and then being his goofy self.
Mitchell having fun coloring.
I swear, one day this little boy's eyes may just pop right out of his head!
Maggie was the one who discovered she could bite the ends off of the markers, little stinker.
This is the face we get when we tell her to smile.
All 3 of the babies have mastered the stairs. Casey and Maggie got the hang of it last weekend at Auntie Gail and Uncle Dave's house. Mitchell wanted nothing to do with them, instead he took advantage of having some one on one time with Auntie Gail upstairs. This past weekend Daniel played provincial hockey not too far north of where my parents live so we went for an overnight visit. Mitchell got the hang of it there so now they can all motor up and down pretty well.
Our new house is a modified bi-level so they'll have quite a few stairs to do there.
They played with them for quite a while once the lids were back on and had fun pretending to color.
Casey hard at work and then being his goofy self.
Mitchell having fun coloring.
I swear, one day this little boy's eyes may just pop right out of his head!
Maggie was the one who discovered she could bite the ends off of the markers, little stinker.
This is the face we get when we tell her to smile.
All 3 of the babies have mastered the stairs. Casey and Maggie got the hang of it last weekend at Auntie Gail and Uncle Dave's house. Mitchell wanted nothing to do with them, instead he took advantage of having some one on one time with Auntie Gail upstairs. This past weekend Daniel played provincial hockey not too far north of where my parents live so we went for an overnight visit. Mitchell got the hang of it there so now they can all motor up and down pretty well.
Our new house is a modified bi-level so they'll have quite a few stairs to do there.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Valentine's Pictures
I have been wanting to get the babies some crafty kind of things to do so Valentine's Day was a good excuse to get them a little treat bag.
Casey and Mitchell anxiously waiting for their turn.
Casey's thinking, I cannot believe mom and dad are letting me play with markers. I made sure to get the markers that only color on the special paper, as well as some washable crayons and paints. And instead of chocolates, they got strawberries.
The bags soon became hats.
After they played with their goodies for a while, the sock game began.
Maggie likes to walk around, pick toys up and put them in her bucket...and I love any help cleaning up I can get. Although it does usually get dumped out a few minutes later and then the mess is just spread further throughout the house.
Casey and Mitchell anxiously waiting for their turn.
Casey's thinking, I cannot believe mom and dad are letting me play with markers. I made sure to get the markers that only color on the special paper, as well as some washable crayons and paints. And instead of chocolates, they got strawberries.
The bags soon became hats.
After they played with their goodies for a while, the sock game began.
Maggie likes to walk around, pick toys up and put them in her bucket...and I love any help cleaning up I can get. Although it does usually get dumped out a few minutes later and then the mess is just spread further throughout the house.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Curlies
The boys' hair has gotten so curly. I love it! And no, I don't want to give them haircuts yet. They are going to be shaggy curly-haired boys. Although with the number of times that Mitchell tried to pull Casey around by his hair today maybe I should give him a buzz cut. Maggie, who will probably be the one wanting the curls, only has a tiny bit of wave in her hair. 
I love Mitchell's face in this picture. This is his face I am always trying to capture on camera but he never stays still long enough to get it. 
Here are a few pictures I took the other night during their bedtime snack, or as they say "nack, nack".
Happy Valentine's Day to my 4 sweeties!
I love Mitchell's face in this picture. This is his face I am always trying to capture on camera but he never stays still long enough to get it. 
Here are a few pictures I took the other night during their bedtime snack, or as they say "nack, nack".
Happy Valentine's Day to my 4 sweeties!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Monkey Boy Did It
We knew it was just a matter of time before monkey boy was the first one to get up on the couch by himself. Today was the day. Once Mitchell was up there he was so proud of himself and it was like he was taunting Maggie and Casey still down on the floor. He was prancing back and forth, jumping up and down while he was giggling.
Between last night's supper and today's lunch, I think Mitchell ate his weight in pasta and meat sauce. He was on a mission! I give them avocados most mornings and he has been gobbling those up faster than I can cut them too. I wonder if avocados would grow in our lovely climate? It sure would save us some money!
Speaking of weight, Casey is about 28.5 lbs (85th percentile), Mitchell is about 24 lbs (30th percentile) and Maggie is about 23 lbs (35th percentile), all for their actual ages. Mitchell and Maggie have both moved up on their growth curves a little bit and Casey has stayed about the same. They've all come such a long way from those early 2, 3 and 4 lb days!
Casey is a funny boy. He is a big brute and also kind of known as the bully of the group. But having said that he is also the most sensitive one. Fitting in with this trait is his love of anything pink. He has laid claim to Maggie's pink butterfly spin toothbrush in exchange for his green incredible hulk one. I was trying some new clothes on them yesterday and he was dead set on wearing the pink fleece that I bought for Maggie. I tried to take it off and put his sweater on, but he was having no part of me taking "his" pink fleece away. I got a few pictures of the 3 of them, but I didn't think Daniel would like it if I showed his big boy in a pink jacket. So here they are from behind.
Daniel's comment when he saw Casey in pink was, "Um, he can't wear pink anymore". With his long curly hair he did look a little girly. Oh well, the girls will appreciate his sensitivity some day.
Between last night's supper and today's lunch, I think Mitchell ate his weight in pasta and meat sauce. He was on a mission! I give them avocados most mornings and he has been gobbling those up faster than I can cut them too. I wonder if avocados would grow in our lovely climate? It sure would save us some money!
Speaking of weight, Casey is about 28.5 lbs (85th percentile), Mitchell is about 24 lbs (30th percentile) and Maggie is about 23 lbs (35th percentile), all for their actual ages. Mitchell and Maggie have both moved up on their growth curves a little bit and Casey has stayed about the same. They've all come such a long way from those early 2, 3 and 4 lb days!
Casey is a funny boy. He is a big brute and also kind of known as the bully of the group. But having said that he is also the most sensitive one. Fitting in with this trait is his love of anything pink. He has laid claim to Maggie's pink butterfly spin toothbrush in exchange for his green incredible hulk one. I was trying some new clothes on them yesterday and he was dead set on wearing the pink fleece that I bought for Maggie. I tried to take it off and put his sweater on, but he was having no part of me taking "his" pink fleece away. I got a few pictures of the 3 of them, but I didn't think Daniel would like it if I showed his big boy in a pink jacket. So here they are from behind.
Daniel's comment when he saw Casey in pink was, "Um, he can't wear pink anymore". With his long curly hair he did look a little girly. Oh well, the girls will appreciate his sensitivity some day.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Schedule Nazi?
I had a good laugh when I read the weekly question on the Multiples and More website ....
Are you a schedule Nazi?
I haven't heard anyone call me that, but I think I could admit to being one myself.
How old are your kids now? Have you always followed a rigid schedule?
Our "babies" are 17 months old. When they were in the NICU they were on a 4 hour schedule and that is what we stuck with when they came home. Sometimes it ended up being a little less than every 4 hours, but very rarely was it much more. Life in the first year was crazy enough I couldn't imagine just winging it or feeding them and having them sleep whenever they wanted. We fed all of them at once which some people were surprised at when we told them. If I would have fed them one by one during the day on my own that is all I would have done. By the time I would be done with #3, #1 would have almost been ready to eat again.
Do you think that your schedule is conducive to healthy sleep patterns in your kids?
DEFINITELY!!! I am such a strong believer in this! I read a book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and I think the information that we followed from that book including a strict schedule is the reason that they have always been such great sleepers. They all slept through the night at just over 3 months old! Around the same time they settled into a good nap routine as well, with 3 naps at the time and now 2. One thing that I have always remembered from the book was that sleep begets sleep...so if they are better rested they will sleep so much better. Another key point that I took from the book and still use is to control their wake up times. 7:10am is wake up time for the babies regardless of whether they would still like to hit the snooze button. There are many mornings where I have to wake all 3 of them up, very rarely are all 3 of them awake. The reason that I do this (and I say "I" because Daniel would rather let them sleep) is because if they do sleep in, then it messes up the schedule for the rest of the day. They do not want to go down for their morning nap and then are grouchy and often times fight their afternoon nap as well. A number of people are quite surprised that I wake them in the morning but if it keeps things on track for the rest of the day and gives us generally well rested happy babies, that's what I'm going to do. Once we go to 1 nap a day I can see letting them sleep in in the mornings because that nap will be later than their current morning one.
Do people give you a lot of flack for being a strict scheduler? How do you respond?
No, no one has ever really given us a hard time for being so strict with our schedule. I think our friends and family realize that this is what works for us and it is what we have to do to keep ourselves sane. And for the most part they see that things run pretty smoothly. I am a routine person myself so I don't think I ever thought we wouldn't have them on a schedule. I find that I need to have some quiet time that I can count on throughout the day to maintain some sanity, although that quiet time is usually doing something around the house.
Has your routine become more relaxed as your kids have gotten older?
I would say it has relaxed a little bit. I think my real Nazi stage was when they were still on bottles. For the majority of their 1st year they had bottles at 8, 12, 4, and 7 and those times weren't too flexible, either with them or with me. Now that they are done with bottles meal times are usually within a half hour window, but nap times and bedtime are still fairly strict otherwise we pay the price.
How do your kids react when they are completely off their schedules- and how do you get them back on track?
This is one of the reasons that we do stick to such a strict schedule! If we miss that "window" of nap time and put them down later for some reason, they think they get to skip that nap and will just talk to each other or cry instead of sleep. If they go to bed much later than 8:00 we are pretty likely to have grouchy babies the next day. To get back on track we put them to bed a little earlier the next night or two. Or if they are having a few days of bad naps, Tylenol usually does the trick to knock them out! A little bit of drugs is something that both the babies and I need by that point.
Many people are surprised at how much our babies sleep. They are awake shortly after 7:00am. They nap for one hour in the morning (which I always have to wake them from). In the afternoon they sleep anywhere between 2-3.5 hours. Then off to bed at 7:30pm, which they do so well. We tell them it is bedtime, they grab their blankie and go to their bedroom door. We lay them down after a quick cuddle and they are usually sleeping within a few minutes. Same thing throughout the night...we never have to get up with them in the night. The odd time I will get up to give one of them their soothie or blankie that may have got thrown overboard, but generally if they do cry out they will go back to sleep on their own within a minute or two.
Disclaimer: I should admit that while I have just been bragging about our great sleepers they have been goofing around during almost all of their afternoon nap. After going down at 1:30, Mitchell was laughing and giggling at something or someone still at 3:20 and Maggie and Casey were saying "hi" to each other. Now at 3:40 after replacing Maggie's soothie twice (that Mitchell plucked out her mouth), they have finally fallen asleep. They do sometimes struggle to get to sleep in the afternoon but always go to sleep great at night.
Maggie sporting her latest battle scar under her eye courtesy of Mitchell.
The thing to do tonight was take daddy on a walk around and around the island leading him by his finger. Maggie started it and then the boys joined in later. Casey wasn't too happy about having to share daddy, even though he got a whole hand to himself...funny boy!
Judging by the toys that the boys wouldn't let go of when we played downstairs yesterday, Casey may be a janitor and Mitchell may be a hockey player. Casey and his vacuum.
Mitchell and his hockey stick.
Are you a schedule Nazi?
I haven't heard anyone call me that, but I think I could admit to being one myself.
How old are your kids now? Have you always followed a rigid schedule?
Our "babies" are 17 months old. When they were in the NICU they were on a 4 hour schedule and that is what we stuck with when they came home. Sometimes it ended up being a little less than every 4 hours, but very rarely was it much more. Life in the first year was crazy enough I couldn't imagine just winging it or feeding them and having them sleep whenever they wanted. We fed all of them at once which some people were surprised at when we told them. If I would have fed them one by one during the day on my own that is all I would have done. By the time I would be done with #3, #1 would have almost been ready to eat again.
Do you think that your schedule is conducive to healthy sleep patterns in your kids?
DEFINITELY!!! I am such a strong believer in this! I read a book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and I think the information that we followed from that book including a strict schedule is the reason that they have always been such great sleepers. They all slept through the night at just over 3 months old! Around the same time they settled into a good nap routine as well, with 3 naps at the time and now 2. One thing that I have always remembered from the book was that sleep begets sleep...so if they are better rested they will sleep so much better. Another key point that I took from the book and still use is to control their wake up times. 7:10am is wake up time for the babies regardless of whether they would still like to hit the snooze button. There are many mornings where I have to wake all 3 of them up, very rarely are all 3 of them awake. The reason that I do this (and I say "I" because Daniel would rather let them sleep) is because if they do sleep in, then it messes up the schedule for the rest of the day. They do not want to go down for their morning nap and then are grouchy and often times fight their afternoon nap as well. A number of people are quite surprised that I wake them in the morning but if it keeps things on track for the rest of the day and gives us generally well rested happy babies, that's what I'm going to do. Once we go to 1 nap a day I can see letting them sleep in in the mornings because that nap will be later than their current morning one.
Do people give you a lot of flack for being a strict scheduler? How do you respond?
No, no one has ever really given us a hard time for being so strict with our schedule. I think our friends and family realize that this is what works for us and it is what we have to do to keep ourselves sane. And for the most part they see that things run pretty smoothly. I am a routine person myself so I don't think I ever thought we wouldn't have them on a schedule. I find that I need to have some quiet time that I can count on throughout the day to maintain some sanity, although that quiet time is usually doing something around the house.
Has your routine become more relaxed as your kids have gotten older?
I would say it has relaxed a little bit. I think my real Nazi stage was when they were still on bottles. For the majority of their 1st year they had bottles at 8, 12, 4, and 7 and those times weren't too flexible, either with them or with me. Now that they are done with bottles meal times are usually within a half hour window, but nap times and bedtime are still fairly strict otherwise we pay the price.
How do your kids react when they are completely off their schedules- and how do you get them back on track?
This is one of the reasons that we do stick to such a strict schedule! If we miss that "window" of nap time and put them down later for some reason, they think they get to skip that nap and will just talk to each other or cry instead of sleep. If they go to bed much later than 8:00 we are pretty likely to have grouchy babies the next day. To get back on track we put them to bed a little earlier the next night or two. Or if they are having a few days of bad naps, Tylenol usually does the trick to knock them out! A little bit of drugs is something that both the babies and I need by that point.
Many people are surprised at how much our babies sleep. They are awake shortly after 7:00am. They nap for one hour in the morning (which I always have to wake them from). In the afternoon they sleep anywhere between 2-3.5 hours. Then off to bed at 7:30pm, which they do so well. We tell them it is bedtime, they grab their blankie and go to their bedroom door. We lay them down after a quick cuddle and they are usually sleeping within a few minutes. Same thing throughout the night...we never have to get up with them in the night. The odd time I will get up to give one of them their soothie or blankie that may have got thrown overboard, but generally if they do cry out they will go back to sleep on their own within a minute or two.
Disclaimer: I should admit that while I have just been bragging about our great sleepers they have been goofing around during almost all of their afternoon nap. After going down at 1:30, Mitchell was laughing and giggling at something or someone still at 3:20 and Maggie and Casey were saying "hi" to each other. Now at 3:40 after replacing Maggie's soothie twice (that Mitchell plucked out her mouth), they have finally fallen asleep. They do sometimes struggle to get to sleep in the afternoon but always go to sleep great at night.
Maggie sporting her latest battle scar under her eye courtesy of Mitchell.
The thing to do tonight was take daddy on a walk around and around the island leading him by his finger. Maggie started it and then the boys joined in later. Casey wasn't too happy about having to share daddy, even though he got a whole hand to himself...funny boy!
Judging by the toys that the boys wouldn't let go of when we played downstairs yesterday, Casey may be a janitor and Mitchell may be a hockey player. Casey and his vacuum.
Mitchell and his hockey stick.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Playdate
We got together yesterday for a playdate with my two friends who both have twin girls. All 7 of our babies are within 6 weeks of each other. Things actually went pretty smoothly considering how it could have gone with 7 16-17 month olds. We were remembering back to a year and a day ago when we all got together for the first time. It is amazing to see how far all of the kids have come, each one of them are so different. Our visits don't seem any less chaotic than they did in the beginning, maybe even more so in some ways, but it is still nice to get together.
Everyone lined up on the couch. Aida, Abbey, Casey, Maggie, Mitchell, Ruby and Leah.
Another group shot, but we lost Ruby.
One year ago.
Lunchtime
The pink teapot was a popular toy.
Things were finalized with our house yesterday and we are officially sold!
Everyone lined up on the couch. Aida, Abbey, Casey, Maggie, Mitchell, Ruby and Leah.
Another group shot, but we lost Ruby.
One year ago.
Lunchtime
The pink teapot was a popular toy.
Things were finalized with our house yesterday and we are officially sold!
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