meredith, caroline & hannah: 1/2 way binky free, pulling up & alligators??

Hi all! I have lots and lot of pictures ... mostly of Caroline but it is such a fun age (mostly!) that I feel compelled to document her every move! First things first, the twins are now only allowed to have their binky, aka bee bee, aka pacifier for sleeping times. This has been verrrrrry hard on us all but it has been a week and they are beginning to accept it as a rule. When they get upset about something is really the only time they ask for it anymore. I am trying to teach them other ways of calming down but, really, it probably just takes time for them to figure this out on their own. We have practiced a lot of deep breathing and pillow punching ... I feel like, in a few months, maybe we can be ready to send it off to paci heaven with the paci fairy or something. We will see how it goes! I am happy with our progress though we have had many fights about it this week. It is going pretty much how I assumed it would and that is why I have waited this long =) They are all geared up for Halloween and I am excited for it this year since they "get it" and are excited for it, too. As for Caroline, she is a pulling up champ. She is a climber. You know what this is leading to? Yep, climbed out of her bed ... already! I, of course, freaked out and thought I should take her to the ER but of course, Alan talked me off the ledge as usual. We have since lowered her bed again and hope it will be a while before she is tall enough for a repeat performance. She has 3 teeth and is getting 4 in. I can see them but not quite feel them yet. You can imagine what this does for her moods but who can blame the poor kid. She continues to be a great eater and has been boycotting all baby food for months now. She is on all table food and eats more in a sitting than the twins eat in a day (probably combined!) She has an appointment on Tuesday and I hope she is not huge in the ranks! She is still nursing 4 times a day. She is babbling a lot and loves her big sisters! She wants everything they have and wants to play with them constantly ... which, of course, drives them up a wall! With the sibling fighting ... I guess what goes around comes around ... my parents are probably smirking as I type ... don't even try and deny it.

Well, here is our most recent neighbor. Yes, we have an alligator living in the pond across the street. This makes me crazy but what can ya do?! Animal control says not to worry unless it gets to be 4 or 5 feet long ... I am wondering ... why wait that long ... just come get the stinker right now!? This is taken from our porch then cropped waaaaay in so it is not the greatest ... but you get the drift. He is about 3 feet ... and very elusive ... I only see him every now and then.

On to cuter 3 footers ... awwww ... togetherness, peace and happiness ... for a few minutes anyway.

hanging in the yard ... keeping an eye out for gators ...

Meredith is really into her baby doll (whose name is Meredith, conveniently) ... she takes her EVERYWHERE! The other day we were taking baby dolls for a walk (we all 3 had our strollers ... theirs filled with dolls and mine filled with Caroline) and we were on a little break (one of our many) and they put their baby dolls face down in the grass and said ... "look, baby doll is eating the grass! Grass is not delicious!!!" Looks like their baby dolls and Caroline have a good bit in common.

wouldn't it be nice to be a little kid ... either that or have a super-sized couch that you could snuggle down in however you wanted to ... she looks pretty comfy.

sisterly hugs ...

I look a little crazy-eyed here but I was trying to get a picture of Caroline and myself ... I am her favorite jungle gym.

whose drooling?

this is what happens when you fuss in my house! HA! Before you call DSS ... she slept so hard on her little hand (you can take the measurements and see that it is not mine =) that she made this print ... fingernail marks and all! It stayed there for hours!

irritating Meredith ...

getting into everything ... you can't see in this pic ... but she is chewing on one of the girls little plastic ladybug figurines ... I try hard for our house not to be choking hazard central but she always seems to find that one tiny object lurking under a table or between the couch and chair ...