We're up to new tricks!

Cole shows off once he realizes he's on camera! How about that smile? And can you hear JD yammering in the background?



JD sits...and then crashes (right on his noggin)!

Cole's first "FIRST"

I knew that there was a reason that Cole was putting EVERYTHING in sight into his mouth including my fingers, his toes, all toys, anything COTTON that came near his mouth and he even managed to get a diaper in there at one point (a clean one, of course).

COLE CUT HIS FIRST TOOTH! And better yet, he did it before JD! Now, not that I compare them all of the time (I try my best NOT to do that) but it sure is nice to see my little underdog do something first! JD always has made the milestones first since he was bigger and a bit healthier at birth. Our little late bloomer is leading the charge with his choppers...

We had the boys 9 month well visit today and they are right on track. JD weighed in at 18 pounds, 12 oz (I thought he hit 20 and was a bit disappointed that his gut looks bigger than it really is) and Cole was 16 pounds, 5 oz. JD is 27" long and Cole is 26" long. Their heads are still on the large side so we have a while longer before they grow into them I guess. We're still trying to figure out where the big heads came from - Chuck and I have absurdly SMALL heads. In fact, we can both wear kids hats - sad but true. In any case, at least our kids won't be tagged with having to wear childrens hats and sunglasses for the rest of their lives like their parents.

Cole is rolling around now like JD - doing his best to hold on for dear life to his toys when JD starts rolling his direction. And frankly, Cole braces himself pretty well when JD starts coming since he'll usually steam roller right over him to get whatever is on the other side. That is, after somehow grabbing all of the toys along the way to take with him. He's really very entertaining to watch.

JD gets frustrated very easily (someone recently mentioned that was much like his beloved Uncle T?) when he can't get to what he wants - we're working with him to help him learn how to use his legs to propel him forward instead of crabbing backwards into every wall and permanent fixture before freaking out that he's stuck. He still loves his jumper and is slowly eating us out of house and home. He loves ALL baby food and most recently has found the new fondness that all babies have with cheerios. He's the entertainer of the family for sure - just a good natured fun little dude. This picture gives a little glimpse of what we're in for. T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Cole is smiling 99.9% of the time these days - as long as I keep him pumped with tylenol to keep those teeth numb. No really, he is a happy boy and just loves attention. He also loves to sleep and has become our champion sleeper. He's still more of a fan of his bottle than he is baby food - but we're working on that. His reflux has left him with some feeding difficulties so we're going to have an Occupational Therapist come out and take a look. He's getting better at it every day but it's a slow process. If this is the worst of our issues after having a 2lb preemie, I'm ok with that. I know that someday he will grow up and eat real food so not to worry that he's a bit slower on the food plan. He too enjoys the jumper but he's not nearly as insane in it as his brother. His personality is certainly more laid back and he is always observing - very intently. He loves nothing more than to watch and listen to whatever is going on around him. He studies things that he holds very closely and often times watches his own hands with a fascinated look on his face. He's still as patient as a saint - and rarely complains about too much. Here he is with his new "taggies" from his Great Aunt Kathy!

That's about it for updates...we're in disbelief that it's been 9 months already since the kids came into this world...won't be long now and I'll be posting pictures of their 1 year birthday. Time flies when you're having fun!

9 Month Birthday!

(6 months adjusted age)

We have our 9 month well baby check up later this week so I'll give the latest stats and updates after that. Here are a few pictures I took of the boys this morning as they were rough housing around a bit - they love to play with each other now. It's so cool to watch them interact! They recognize each other and smile when they see each other in the morning. We can only hope that they will love each other that much as they get older...

Happy 9 months boys!

Nic Sparks Fans?

For any of you out there who are Nicholas Sparks fans, just finished his latest, "Dear John" and I highly recommend it! My rockstar husband took the kids for the day today so I had a Mommy day...I actually finished a book at the pool and got a short nap - ahhhh, the small things!

Pool Daze...

Well, the pool days aren't like they used to be! I packed a book yesterday in MY pool bag. What was I thinking? We are so fortunate to be able to use Grammy & Grampy's pool anytime we want so for the first time ever, we ventured over to the pool yesterday, just Mommy & the boys. There is no less gear than packing for the beach, or any other excursion so it took multiple car loads to get everything loaded & unloaded. AND WELL WORTH IT! We had a great day! We comendeered one full corner of the pool for all of our stuff.

We even had another set of twins come too - the Brown Girls (one of my best college girlfriends) were here from Philly so they joined the fun. I'm sad I don't have more pictures but it was logistically impossible, as you can imagine. We were lucky to get the few that we did. JD's checkin out which one he likes best...future girlfriends?

It's really amazing what people say to you when they are pondering whether your kids are twins or not as they walk on by. Yesterday, both sets of twins were like circus side shows. They loved all of the attention.

Both "monkey boy" and "chick magnet" gave out lots of smiles!

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend as much as we are!!!

Bath time

Bath time is really turning into a fun part of the day...arms and legs everywhere! And lots of smiles.

Cole wonders "Is my belly really that big?"

Organized chaos...

Well, sort of organized, but definitely chaos...11 kids and 5 Moms...all kids under 1 year...and only 2 girl babies! The boys will be fighting over them in the coming years!


We had a MOMs (Moms of Multiples) playdate this weekend - what a hoot! There was one set of triplets and 4 sets of twins. The kids had a blast - and what a great day for it. The weather cooperated for once on Memorial Day (historically it ALWAYS rains on Mem Day weekend). There is definitely a different dynamic in raising multiples so it's great to have the input from other Moms in your shoes and who have faced the same dilemmas - and solved them, or not! Thanks for a great afternoon girls!


Our buddies Max & Keegan (31 weekers)

The Julian Trips - Kyle, Mackenzie and Brady

JD sharing his new toy with buddy Keegan

Cole & JD enjoy a quick swim to cool off...

Baptism

What a wonderful day we had on Sunday. The boys were Christened. We were surrounded by our loving family on a beautiful day! Here are a few snaps from the day...We are so blessed!

Here are a few snaps from yesterday. They seem to be changing by the day!

JD loves to be on his belly now - he's crab walking backwards on his back but no forward movement yet. He usually rolls to whatever he needs. The baby gates are next on the agenda!

Cole seems very content on his back, although he rolls to get toys that he wants. He's such a laid back little character. That smile still melts my heart every time!

Lessons in Motherhood

Spoken from the heart of a "seasoned" Mom. This is awesome. One of the better email's I've received as of late. You'll enjoy this.

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves.

Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past. Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2. When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the "Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame." The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, What did you get wrong? (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs.

There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be.

The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense; matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity.

That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.