The big day is drawing near...

Okay, so once again I've procrastinated. It's such a classic case. Each day I think of all the things I should be capturing in print to remember this wild and crazy time, but alas, no time to do so. And with each passing day, it becomes more and more overwhelming to think of all the things I want to try to write about, plus I'm exhausted, so I just push it into the next week, and then all of the sudden, a month has passed since the last entry! Argh.

So where do I begin? Each day is such an adventure. They're all very mobile in their own ways. They all love to rearrange (push around) our kitchen chairs and stools. Charlotte is the climber...scaring her mother on a regular basis. I've already purchased a crib tent that will probably get installed in the next month or so because I find her on top of things I never thought she could possibly climb yet. I'm afraid she'll make it out of her crib and be on the loose - yikes! She is also frightningly close to walking, and like an idiot I encourage it. Luke is an explorer and LOVES it when I forget to close a baby gate, or open something like the pantry, freezer or dishwasher. He's also our button and knob guy. I need to buy some more baby proofing supplies thanks to him, like the plastic guard that covers the TV buttons and the lock for the oven door. I think Sean will be our first communicator, whether by word or sign language. He wants so badly to let us know what he wants, and his method right now is grunting, or the old standby, yelling/crying. He grunts when he wants more food on his tray, when he wants to be picked up, etc. I'm working really hard on getting him to sign "eat," "milk," and "more" among other things, but so far he just claps when I move my hands to sign something. My heart completely melted the other day when I was getting a cloth to wash their faces after a meal and they were fussy...I started to sing "patty cake, patty cake..." and I look over to see three babies all clapping to my singing! We're also getting some waves "hi" and "bye" here and there. I would say one downside of the last several weeks is constant teething. I am in a sea of drool and some days the fussiness meter is at a 10+. We're also making an attempt to transition from bottles to sippy cups...a challenge all its own. To my surprise, Charlotte, who is usually at the front end of picking up a new skill, appears to be lagging behind her brothers on this one. Although I often get the feeling she knows HOW to do it, but has decided she does not WANT to do it. All three love to "test" gravity by dropping the sippy cups (or food) on the floor during meal times, and then look at me as if to say, "Hmm...I didn't know that would happen!" Same for throwing pacifiers and blankies out of cribs at bedtime. You've never heard such a pitiful cry as the one when they realize they've thrown their lifeline on the floor, out of reach when they're actually ready to sleep. Possibly one of my favorite things about this age is watching them discover and play with one another. There's the scream fest - one will scream (usually Sean) and the others then join in the concert and giggle back and forth at one another's yelling prowess. I seriously worry sometimes about their ears and hearing loss! Another is the game of cat and mouse or peak-a-boo around a chair or the kitchen island. It will be a huge loss if I don't manage to catch that on video. It's not all sweet though...there's plenty of toy stealing and hair pulling to even out the day.

The summer has been wonderful in many ways: lots of visits from family and friends, lots of walks in the stroller and our new wagon, and more sleep for everyone. Jeff and I made our first trip away together without the babies, and survived a 9-hour road trip to and from Iowa WITH the babies. But I'm looking forward to fall...my favorite season and such an exciting time to have 1-year olds!