Avery's Hair/11 month olds!

Oh how i love having a baby girl! I love to buy her clothes, dress her up, and take a thousand pictures of her (thought i would say that outloud just incase you couldn't tell ;) ) I love to put bows in her hair,

and I've even made a few bows for her...

and tie ribbons around her head!

And the best part is, she leaves them in! (except her brothers think they are so fun to pull out!)

Avery also loves her hair. During every meal, it's a challenge to keep her hands and whatever she is eating out of her hair. Tonight, for example, she had strawberries, cheese puffs and refried beans all in her hair. awesome. And this morning, she had cinnamon chex and yogurt in her hair...and she even styled it!(this is the reason we have shampoo in our kitchen windowsill, for her head-baths in the sink when it gets really bad!)

And man oh man does this baby girl get bed head...and she gets it bad!!

Today was one of the most fun hair days ever. As i was brushing out all of the food from her breakfast, i thought it seemed long enough for a pony tail....so today Avery had her first pony tail!! And what a cute pony tail it was!!

Last week, we celebrated having our babies with us for the past 11 months....and can't believe this is their last month of being babies!! It was a beautiful day, so we got to play outside and try out their swings!! Colby LOVED it, Avery had lots of fun, and Zach liked it, but wasn't completely sure of what was going on....there were 4 dogs barking and going crazy right next to him at the fence, so he was a little worried about them! After swinging, we went on a nice long walk and enjoyed the awesome weather.

You're probably wondering why, on March 10th, the babies are in their red-white and blue outfits. Well, i will tell you why =) Through my multiples group, we adopted a soldier. SFC Richardson is our man, and we sent him lots of goodies....but the best part was packing the box!! Here are a few pics from our packing....

Clearly the box was the most fun part of it all! But sampling the candy was fun too....hope he doesn't mind slobber!!

And the boys are already lovers of duct tape....

Our special treat for our 11 month olds was popsicles! Mamaw found the cutest little 'mini pops' and we got to try them out after dinner!! Zach's face was priceless when he sampled his first popsicle!

Colby like it, but had more fun squeezing it in his hand...it made a fun, cold mess!

Avery just wanted to hold it and try to figure out what it was...

And Zach....well the picture speaks for itself. =)

And here are a few cute ones of my boys....just so they don't feel like it's all about Avery! =)

Colby making a funny face showing off his top tooth...

Zach sportin his new shades on the deck!

i have sick babies =(

all 4 of them....Zach, Colby, Josh and Avery (in that order)

Here's a rundown of my week so far...(sorry for all the gross details!)

It all started Sunday after morning naps....Zach woke up crying (like usual) and i went in and both he and Avery were awake. I scooped Zach up quick and then grabbed Avery and booked it out of the room to try to not wake Colby. I had Zach facing away from me when we went in to say good morning to daddy....and Zach erupted. I just stood there b/c i had Avery on my other hip...and where was i going to go?? So he finally stopped and all i could say was "i need a little help!" We got him, his bed, the floor, me and my boot (that he puked all over) all cleaned up and he was a pathetic little man for the next 4 hours. He got sick a few more times during that time, and then all of a sudden, didn't want to be held anymore and was off playing like nothing had ever happened. During lunch after we got Zach all cleaned up, Colby rumbled his seat (not unusual), and i kind of giggled....but then once the smell hit me, i about fell out of my chair. It was FOUL! Poor guy has it coming out the other end.....and it is GROSS!! The only symptom Colby had was he wasn't interested in eating....not like him at all...so i knew something mst be up! He did throw up last night at dinner, but that was his only time.....but he's been through 8 outfits in the past 3 days. Also, he's in a diaper study where we have to keep the urine only diapers...and in the past 4 days, we've only had 3 urine only diapers! YIKES! THEN, last night, Josh all of a sudden felt like he was going to be sick. He hasn't been sick like that since high school or before, so was trying to ignore it and talk himself out of it....but the stomach bug won out and he got up last night....and then all through the night, and has felt crappy all day today. After he got up, i moved to the couch, and then about an hour later, woke up to my little princess crying. I went and got her, and was up for the next 5 hours with her getting sick over and over and over and over. Poor thing was miserable. She's been clingy all day and just pathetic. Zach joined Colby with it coming out the other end, but the pukes have died down a little. I talked to the dr. and she suggested pedialyte, so i got a few flavors....and the babies think it's gross (which it is), and a bland diet....so our meals have consisted of a combination of saltines, toast, cheerios, rice cereal and oyster crackers. We did get adventurous and try some chicken noodle soup, but it was not a big hit. So that's been my week so far....and it can only get better from here right?? One of the common questions i get when i'm out with the babies is "did you watch Jon and Kate plus 8?" Well of course i did! But this is one time i'm really glad i only have 3 babies to be sick, not 8...i can't imagine!!

On a good note, i decided that a little fresh air might be good for everyone. I have been waiting for warm weather for a long time and can't wait to get outside! So both yesterday and today, we got to try out our new runabout stroller. It's awesome, and has been so nice to get out! Josh was getting ready to leave for the dr, so we took this quick pic....but then i got the stroller all situated....so this is what it looked like for the walk!

The babies are so cute on our walks...Avery sings, Zach and Colby scream and listen to their echos and they all love to watch cooper walk next to the stroller. We are so happy that the warm weather is on the horizon!!

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One more thing...on April 25th, the babies and I are going to be walking with my tri-state multiples group in the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes supports research and programs for premature babies and helps families through their NICU stays...which is obviously near and dear to our hearts. Please consider supporting us as we walk to bring families the same wonderful care and support that we received during our hospital stay...we have beautiful, perfect 11 month old babies to show for, and want the same for other people that might be facing the same situation. You can access my page at www.marchforbabies.org/kara55522 . Thanks!!

Bananas gone bad!!

Sooo today is the first Wednesday of March. The first Wednesday of the month means it is mommy's day out. She has her monthly meeting with the Tri State Multiples group. It is a dreaded day for some dads, myself included. This means we are all on our own, doing what mommy does everyday and night, night in night out, without complaining. Mommy gets a night on the town while daddy stays home. Not that big of deal for some, but for others it is. Remember several months ago Kara made a post talking about doing Mach 3 home from the group meeting because I didn't answer the phome and she just knew something was WRONG!!! Only to discover 3 babies in bed sleeping and me cleaning the house. Welllll, tonight it may just happen again. Instead of just tonight being mommy's night, this whole day has been hers. She ran out this morning while I fed the babies. After naps I gave each baby a bath and Kara went out again with Avery for some good mother daughter time. While she was gone it was time to feed the boys. Before Kara left she told me to make sure the boys ate a banana. Now bananas are one of the kids favorite foods, but they are kind of hard for them to eat. The boys love showing their Independence and try to feed themselves. The only problem is bananas are very slick and hard to pick up. We got a great tip from someone that says coat them with a crushed up graham cracker and it will make them easier to pick up. Hmmmmm, great idea and very simple right...... Well I thought outside of the box when I looked in the pantry and found another one of their favorite snacks, Chocolate Cheerios. BAM GREAT IDEA!!! I used our magic bullet (those of you who watch late night infomercials know what I am talking about) and chopped the cheerios into a fine powdery substance. I then coated the bananas in my powdery substance and....whala, the first part of lunch is served. I put it in bowls, put them in front of the boys and go back into the kitchen to finish making lunch. I can hear the boys talking and laughing and just being boys. When I go back in with the rest of lunch I find chocolate cheerio covered bananas everywhere....in their hair, in their ears, in their overalls, I mean everywhere. I have seen a one year old who didn't get as messy when they tore into their first birthday cakes. It must have been the ability to grip the bananas coupled with the fact they could finally grip them that made it irresistible to smear everywhere. Keep in mind they had a bath less than an hour ago. I guess that is what 11 month old babies do. I can't wait to see what they do at dinner time!!

(This is after a cleanup when I got the idea to take a picture)

where is the time going??

I feel like we are in fast-forward mode! I can't believe my last post was about 10 month olds, when next week they will be 11 months!!

Since my last post, we all had colds..miserable, snotty colds. Which means not a lot of sleep, a lot of gross tissues, and clingy babies (won't complain about the last one though!). Avery actually ended up with croup...which the dr. said was her body's way of dealing with the cold. She had a very hoarse voice and sounded pathetic and cute all at once! She didn't have it bad enough to require a steroid shot, so the dr. said the best thing we could do was sit outside with her for 20 minutes at a time and let her breathe in the cold air. This is my "mom of the year" picture....i was sure one of the neighbors would see her and children's services would be knocking at my door!

The next day we went on a walk...still got some weird looks...b/c it was by no means warms outside, but it was much more comfortable (at least for me) to be walking instead of sitting still on the back porch! Her croup only lasted a few days, and never got much worse...thank goodness!

I love this next picture because i LOVE the jammies Avery is wearing, and you can really see how much they love standing up and looking out the window! =) They've had fun watching the snow, the snow plows, watching us shovel the driveway, and watching the garbage trucks!

We tried a second round of playing in the snow (after i'd shoveled the driveway....josh had already shoveled it 3 times, so i took a turn.....SO done with all this snow!) But this time it didn't go over nearly as well....they were not impressed or interested...

We had our first triplet play date this month too! My friend Stacie and her boys....7 month old triplets and a 3 year old...and her hubby all came over for dinner! As Josh described it, "our floor was crawling". The babies were great! They're used to being around other babies all day, so it was just new faces to get used to! This is Colby checkin out Austin...."hmmm...are you my brother??"

Now that they can easily get up and down, NOTHING IS SAFE around here! The babies are contained to our family room and part of the dining room, but still find things (the remote, cell phones, wipes boxes etc) that we put up...where we think is out of reach, but really isn't. Here are the boys at grandma and grandpa's house...the picture frame was a hot item....and the lamp only was pushed/pulled/knocked off the table 5/6 times!

When you have 3 babies, it's all about doing head counts. When we go places where people might be holding the babies, or go to a place they can crawl around, the best way to keep track and have instant reassurance they are accounted for is doing head counts....1-2-3....breath of relief. Well the other night, i was getting ready to give them baths while josh was at work. i had just taken the lotion, diapers, and brush back to the bedroom, and came back in to the family room. I did a quick head count....1-2-where's colby? I looked around the corner into the accessible part of the dining room, and he wasn't there either...then i saw this...
His whole self was behind the chair! I think he thought he found a secret passage out of the family room...but turns out he couldn't get through...and was stuck.

These days it is nearly impossible to change them without a fight. Josh's line to Colby the other day when he was getting him changed and dressed was "some day, you will probably be bigger than me, but right now i am bigger than you, and i WILL win!" Toys to distract don't work, singing a song doesn't work...they just will not lay still!!! And sometimes we just give up!.

And if they won't lay still to get changed, they surely won't sit still all together for a picture. I have to get creative with how i can get a group shot!
Such cute faces!!!

Not as happy faces as the last one, but at least they were all in one frame!!

As of the end of last week...Zach suprised me with the first sign of a top tooth...colby was right after him and Avery a few days after. The bottom teeth slid right in without much to-do...but top teeth are NO FUN....and to know that we still have the rest of the mouth full to go is not reassuring right now!! Love my babies and the extra snuggles though!!