9 Months - Happy Halloween

Tyler is currently the most vocal baby right now. He is starting to say "dadadada" among a few other baby babbling words.

Tyler got his second tooth earlier this week. It is growing in much faster than the first tooth. The first tooth came in a month ago and already the second tooth is almost as big as the first. Thankfully, teething doesn't seem to bother him like it does Whitney (the girls still don't have any teeth). This is what you get when the babies hold their bottles themselves. They are either taking them in and out of their mouths because they can't breathe (due to the colds) or they are just playing. Tyler has recently become so mesmerized by Lacy. He pets her, pulls her dog tags, pulls her ears, chases her (crawling or dragging himself), laughs at her, squeals at her...poor Lacy and she handles it so well.

Tyler is by far my busiest baby. He started getting around by dragging himself last week, now this week he is mastering a true crawl. Now, Tyler has also started pulling up on his knees using this blue toy bucket. He is getting into EVERYTHING! This boy is keeping me busy. He couldn't care less about his toys right now. He just wants to roam and explore. I am using this blue bucket as a temporary barrier to keep him from crawling behind the chair and getting into things he shouldn't be in. Also, notice the blinds are raised...Tyler discovered those too. I've also had to move the magazine racks, close the baby gates, move lamps, raise the curtains, keep dog toys off the floor as well as shoes and anything else he doesn't need. He has an eye for things that he doesn't need... If he isn't supposed to be playing with it, he will find it!

Tyler is getting into the magazines I put under the table on the inside by the sofa and he still managed to find them.

"Let me out!"

Tyler wanted to be Superman for his first Halloween.He is pretending to fly... Actually just getting ready to crawl away - picture-taking was not easy. He is too busy.

Whitney has mastered moving from laying to sitting which is causing a problem with naps. She constantly pulls herself up and then cries and cries because she can't sleep. She is somewhat mobile; she can drag herself around some but usually doesn't have much interest in doing that. She likes to bounce on her bottom while sitting - I think she is going to be my little dancer (hopefully and Hannah too). Whitney is starting to hold her bottle a little, but isn't quite there yet.

Whitney loves to chew on everything - burp clothes, books, toys... everything!

Is that burp cloth good, Whitney?

Whitney was big bird for her first Halloween. Those darn feet will not stay on!

There it goes... Whitney is going to get it.

Let's just take em' off... much easier.

I cannot believe how long she looks here. And there are those darn feet again coming off.

Hannah has her own individual crawl - she likes to throw herself forward until she gets to her destination. Sometimes, although not very often, I will see her drag herself or actually crawl a tiny bit, but it is usually the throwing method she uses to get from point A to point B.

Hannah has become a little less easy-going. She cries more now if someone picks up one of her siblings first out of their beds and not her. Not sure if it is a teething thing or if she is developing the separation anxiety.

Just like Tyler, Hannah makes a mess with her milk. Hannah wanted to be a crab for her first Halloween. She was not digging picture time this afternoon. Can you see the teary eyes? "Seriously Mom! I am not liking this!"Now she is happy...for a moment...Please excuse my toes in this picture. This is the only one I got of her stretched all out without any hands in her face or trying to roll over. See... this is the next shot. This poor, unhappy crab loves to suck her fingers for comfort.

Some group shots...

I thought this was a sweet picture... Hannah had her arm around Whitney but when I snapped the picture, she had moved it. Still sweet though to see them sitting side by side together.

Anyone want to play twister? Or wrestle?

Good thing Hannah doesn't mind you crawling over her, Tyler. Of course, Tyler being so busy, putting Hannah next to him with her antenna things isn't going to work. Let's switch them.Whitney said, "I don't want to sit next to a boy!" And poor Hannah's antenna's are droopy just like her mood. I guess that is why Tyler wanted to 'fix' them.

Poor babies were tired and hungry. Their nap was too short (their choice, not mine) and they hadn't eaten yet.


On that note... they are all doing well with their solids. They have three meals a day and they tolerate most foods I give them fairly well. We are working on sippy cups, but mainly they just chew on the spout.

We have their 9 month check-up next week, so be sure and check back soon because I will give their current weights/lengths/percentiles etc.

Until next time...

A few pics for Daddy

Here are some more pictures from this weekend Daddy. You asked about Tyler's tooth and how much more it came through.

Just getting started - trying to figure out the mesh fruit bags. Whitney likes it.
Tyler likes it. Whitney wanted to turn over in the swing and look at Mommy and Mamaw. Hannah is looking in the background and Tyler is on the go (as always).
Close-up of Whitney
We miss you! I'll try to post some more pictures tomorrow.

3 colds + 1 ear infection + 1 bronchial infection + 3 teething babies = NO FUN

You guessed it, the babies are sick again. I guess it is good that they have only been sick twice now in their 8 months of life. It started probably about a week ago with Tyler, then Whitney, now Hannah. I took them to the doctor on Saturday and they all have just a common cold except Whitney also has bronchialitis and Tyler has an ear infection. I got a prescription for Tyler's ear infection and Whitney's bronchialitis and she has to do breathing treatments three times a day but does surprisingly well, which is great. Here is a picture of me giving her her breathing treatment. Poor baby!

The babies are extra fussy because they are teething as well. Needless to say, the last few days have been very rough for us. Nobody is getting much sleep at night. I thank God for my friends, family members and especially Craig's parents for helping me so much while Craig is away. I have held my own pretty well since he left, but now that they are all sick, I don't know what I would do without a little help.

Teething, church, and road trips

Whitney is teething and is VERY fussy. I think I got up between 5-10 times last night to tend to her! The girl will not eat much or sleep much - needless to say, the past few days have been a little trying. She is loving her teething rings, I saw her going back and forth chewing on the green then the pink. I think I will go buy some of those teething biscuits. She has also been sneezing and had a little bit of congestion, and I am hoping it doesn't turn into a cold. And tonight Tyler started having a snotty nose... Yay!



Today we made a choo choo train. For some reason, Tyler did not want to sit up! Silly boy!
Hannah's turn in front.
Tyler and Hannah have been best buddies lately. I find them playing and laughing together a lot.
The domino effect. Whitney has a funny smirk on her face.
Sunday, I got brave and took the babies to church by myself, which was utterly exhausting! It will probably be a long time before I do that again. I got everything ready the night before (clothes for them and me, diaper bag packed, stroller in the car) otherwise, I don't think it would ever happen. After getting them all fed, changed and dressed, then loaded up, unloaded and pushed them all in one big stroller which was very heavy, then unloaded in the nursery - I needed a nap. Then, went to pick them up after church, load them in the stroller, fight the wind (and the high heels didn't help) with the heavy stroller, then loaded back in the car - I did get a nap after getting home, getting the kids fed, changed and in bed. Anyway, I dressed them all up and wanted to take their picture because it has been a while since we dressed them up to go to church.

Can you believe the outfits the girls are wearing are the ones they wore for baby dedication in April when they were just 2 1/2 months old.
My chunky little preemie boy!!! A few other updates... Tyler is currently holding his bottle all by himself. He also likes to bang toys together and make as much noise as possible. He is also starting to pull up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.

Look at my mischievous Hannah! Hannah's updates... She is doing surprisingly well holding her bottle, although sometimes she forgets that she has hands - she holds her bottle with her hands in a fist. She also surprisingly seems to do better holding it on her own than being held as far as reflux is concerned. She has also learned how to go from laying to sitting up and I have confirmed that she does wave from time to time.
I can still manage to make Whitney smile even though she is not feeling well - teething and all.

Looks like me and the kids are going to be taking a trip to Houston to spend some time with Daddy if they don't get super sick. He is going to have a day off and we miss him so we thought we would go spend a few days with him. Who would have thought the babies' first road trip would be to go see Daddy???

Drastic changes are coming

It has been a week now since Craig left and it seems like so much has happened since he left. I thought I would take the time to document what all is going on and all the things Daddy is missing out on.

Hannah has become the bully lately. For the past few days, she has been constantly letting out this extremely high pitched squeal/shrill/grunting noise. She has been doing this for a while, but the difference is now she makes Tyler and Whitney cry when she does it and it seems like she does it just to torment her siblings. Sometimes it is cute although, most of the time it is downright annoying! I broke out the tools and lowered Hannah's bed a few nights ago because she is always up on all fours and I was afraid she would start pulling up while I wasn't watching. I am feeling incredibly single right now - feels like the old days when I actually was single and often did these types of things for myself. BTW...she is not crawling yet.

Whitney has been extra whiny the past few days and seems to want to be held more often than usual. She is drooling a lot and I am guessing her first tooth will pop through any day now. Whitney (as well as Hannah) are giving me such fits with feeding time. I have just decided I am just going to start them with a lesser amount rather than feeding for hours at a time to try to get all of them to finish their bottles. Our pediatrician told us they should be getting most nutrition from formula/breast milk for the first 9 months, but they would much rather eat solids, so I am going to start increasing the solids and decreasing the bottles. Whitney isn't pulling up on all fours but I have seen her pull/drag herself across the floor a few times. She doesn't go very far but if she is close to being within reach of something she wants, she will pull herself just enough to get it. She is also talking and babbling SO much but still doesn't laugh out loud.

Tyler's tooth is coming through more and is becoming more visible when he smiles. It is very cute. He has also been a little more cranky than usual - I am sure it is the teething. Earlier this afternoon, I found Tyler sitting in a (S-position) one leg in front facing in and one leg behind facing out and he was leaned over like he might have pulled himself to a sitting position. He was stuck and screaming. I am glad that happened though because now I know it is time to lower his bed too. Since then, I have watched him pull up on all fours (for the first time) like Hannah. I am about to have some very mobile babies around here so I guess I am going to need to either put up the other baby gate Craig didn't get up before he left or have one of my brothers or brother in laws come out here and do it. I do pride myself for being pretty independent/handy/mechanical but I don't know if I am that mechanical.

I also ordered a triplet stroller and will be putting that together also! I got the babies some much needed new toys last week so they are having fun playing with some more age appropriate toys and I am also on the hunt for some bathtub seats (so I can start bathing them in the bathtub together) and some of those foam mats for the babies to play on (and keep the spit up off the carpet). I thought a big blanket might work, but I am having trouble keeping Lacy off of it and the babies are bunching it up too much.

So much is changing and I hate that Craig is missing it, but there isn't much I can do about that. He was supposed to come back after only two weeks, but they are forcing them to stay longer (most likely) - it is pretty much been left up in the air and they haven't given him an ETA back home.

Tyler at 8 months

Tyler is a good independent sitter but he doesn't stay in the position long because he always wants to get on his tummy so he spin around and get into things.

Tyler is my big boy! He loves to eat eat eat! About the only thing that he doesn't like so far are peaches - he makes the funniest faces but still eats it. He actually gets upset when he sees me eating if he is hungry and wants some. Tyler is learning to hold his own bottle and does so when it is close to empty and not as heavy. I introduced them to sippy cups this past month and let me just say Tyler is not a fan of water. He only had a little bit with my help. He now weighs 18 pounds 8.4 ounces.

Tyler is not a very good napper these days. I don't know if he has just gotten into the habit of taking catnaps or if it is because he is teething. On Saturday, his first tooth broke through.

He loves to babble and talk and his newest obsession is using his hand to make echoing noises with his mouth.