Comin' up on 6 months!

Can that be right? January 26? That was the last time I updated the blog...and a weak post at that? Jeez. Sorry. Well, it's time for an appropriate update. So much happens from week to week that there's no way I can fill in everything, but I'll try to get everyone as caught up as possible. There have been several "firsts" in the last several weeks. We have been battling through our first colds recently. Fortunately they were relatively mild, but did affect sleeping and eating a bit. Luke had it the worst, and was waking a lot at night. I was pretty lenient on his night waking during that time and would pretty much go to him any time he cried, but now I'm having to be tough again about letting him cry for a while when he wakes. Having said that, in general the kiddos sleep beautifully at night for their age. By mid-January at about 4 1/2 months old, we had achieved pretty consistent sleeping through the night, from about 6:30/7:00 in the evening until roughly 5:30 or 6:00 am...usually with one or both boys waking once or twice briefly during the night. We're actually all getting some sleep around here! Jeff and I have learned to go to bed early, and can count on usually getting an uninterrupted 5 or 6 hours a night on a pretty regular basis. Thinking back to the early days when I was getting an hour here...an hour there...and was walking around in a permanent daze, this is heaven. Since this blog also serves as a baby book of sorts, I should probably record some of the other major firsts dating back quite a ways:

1. First smile (and later, giggle): Charlotte - back in late October. The boys have since caught on to the giggling, but Charlotte's "he he he" giggle is positively infectious.

2. First rollover from belly to back: Sean, back in October/November sometime...this may have been more of an accident than on purpose, those baby heads are heavy and tip easily!

3. First rollover back to belly: Luke...but it hasn't been ongoing. He did it about 3 times over 2 days a couple of weeks ago and hasn't done it since without my help. Charlotte decided she wasn't going to be outdone, and a few days ago presented us with her rollover ability and now does it literally every time I lay her down. Problem is, she's not so skilled at rolling belly to back even though it's easier, and once she arrives on her belly she becomes quite agitated..."I'm here, now what???"

4. Getting that Podee bottle back in their mouth: this is that fancy bottle I use to feed them. While it's a lifesaving device, the nipple/tube does fall out of their mouth on occasion and I try to keep an eye on everyone and push it back in there before they get mad. But, sometimes they might sit there a while before I get to them, and they're often grabbing the tube themselves and try to get it back in their mouth. Their aim isn't great, so it's usually more frustrating to them than helpful. However one day, Sean had dropped his and I was looking away for a moment, and when I looked back, there he was, sucking away again! So far this has been a one time success, but watching him try to repeat it is worth the price of admission.

Luke's torticollis (stiff neck muscles that result in a favoring of one side) seems to be improving a bit with weekly visits from a physical therapist and daily streching/exercises by Mommy and Daddy, both of which he HATES. However, we're trying to be diligent with this because if it goes unchecked, it can cause all sorts of developmental delays like the commencement of crawling and eventually walking. It also affects the shape of his head since he consistently prefers to lay with his head to the right. So, the therapist has warned us that it may require using one of those head-shaping helmets to correct it. Yuck. He would have to wear it 23 hours a day for a few months. But, if we're going to do it it's better to do it soon, before the bones fuse, otherwise he'd have to wear it a lot longer. We're going to give therapy a try for a while longer and visit at lenth with the Pediatrician before making any decisions on that.

We've had one baby venture into the world of solid foods. When I switched to feeding everyone every 4 hours instead of every 3 hours, Sean would get way too hungry and just about lose his mind! So, twice a day I give him a little rice cereal or baby bananas to tide him over. He's actually pretty good at it and thinks it hiliarious most of the time. But, there are days he decides not to cooperate and I get a glimpse at how fun it will be when I've got three babies grimacing and spitting peas back out at me. :-) For now, the others have shown no interest when I'm feeding Sean, so I'm going to wait a bit longer. The Pediatrician said to not even really start thinking about it until 6 months, and/or when they're showing considerable interest in our food (watching us eat, grabbing for our food or utensil, etc). For now they're all eating well so I'm not too concerned about their growth. Charlotte was weighed recently during a quick trip to the doctor and weighed 13 lbs, 8 oz, so I'm guessing they're all roughly 14 pounds. Not bad for babies born at roughly 5 pounds each!

In recent days I think we've finally gotten ourselves into a pretty decent daytime routine where everyone naps at the same time (for a little while!) a few times a day. Until now, it had pretty much been what I call the "baby parade" where I got one (or two) babies down and another popped up! It made for incredibly long and tiring days with basically no break from 5:30 am to 6:30 p.m. Once everyone got to sleep at night I'd suddenly think...when was the last time I had a drink of water? ate? went to the bathroom? sat on a piece of furniture? I spend the majority of my days on the floor, whether it's playing with them, or sitting in front of their bouncy seats while I feed them. There are all sorts of occupational hazards with this job, and I've discovered aches and pains I never knew could exist. I've never appreciated my yoga class so much!

We are anxiously awaiting spring here, as cabin fever sets in on a regular basis. Now that the babies are awake more and want to be enteratined, I find myself wishing we could get out for walks, to a park...anything to stimulate their minds with something other than the 20 toys I have in my little basket of tricks, a couple of DVDs, and books. One day a few weeks ago, when the cabin fever was really bad and no one wanted to nap, I packed everyone up and we headed to the mall! It actually went pretty well. We were of course a circus, but for the most part people said really sweet things (Congratuations! Oh, how sweet!) and only got one stupid comment from a guy about the stroller (Jeez, you got lights and a horn for that thing?).

One thing were are working on is teaching them sign language. At this age it is completely one sided (me signing to them) but eventually they will be able to sign things back to us to communicate what they want long before they're able to talk. We have a short DVD we watch every day, and in addition I sign "milk" to them before their bottle and "all done" when they're finished. I'm told that sometime between 7/8 months and a year old they'll be able to sign some of the most basic signs back to us (like "milk"). I'm also told that this helps prevent all sorts of tantrums that would otherwise occur out of frustration that they can't tell us what they want.

All in all...life is good! There are certainly long and sometime very tough days, but for the most part we have absolutely wonderful, sweet babies. Another time I will fill you all in on their developing personalities. Contrary to what most people say, in my opinion this time has not passed quickly...the days, weeks and months are very long when you're waiting for things to get easier! But, things do seem to happen "all of the sudden." One day you just wake up and "all of the sudden" it's not as hard as it was a month ago. All of the sudden, they're sleeping through the night...when did that happen? Remember when we were getting up 2 or 3 times a night? All of the sudden, Charlotte's rolling over, or Sean's getting the bottle back in his mouth, or Luke's able to reach out a grab a toy while on his belly. When did those skills develop? Last time I checked Charlotte could barely hold her head up while on her belly, and now she's rolling over? This journey is one very long ultra-marathon...but I wouldn't trade the rewards of it for anything.