bunch of pictures ...

We have had a busy few weeks with Alan's side of the family in town, some Atlanta friends that came to visit and my Mom in town. It is always nice to have the company. The girls are all doing well. The twins have had a bit of a cold (yes, again!!) and it just made them extremely grumpy but Meredith seems to be better and Hannah is in the middle of it now. Hopefully Caroline and I will not get it. The twins are still very into dressing themselves and Hannah is obssessed with wearing her PJs. I make her put on clothes to go anywhere then the second she is home she wants back in her PJs. She changes clothes at least 6 times a day. Drives me up a wall. Most of the time they are cracking me up with whatever they are saying or doing but our lives seem very polar ... they are either cracking me up or they are pitching fits. I guess that is why it is called the terrible twos! Caroline is doing amazingly well. She is sleeping through the night from about 9 or 10 until 7. She really doesn't ever fuss unless she is tired, hungry or bored. She loves to be busy when she is awake ... loves to be talked to or put with bright things close enough for her to see. She LOVES to stand up and she loves to lay on her back and kick like a mad woman! She is just such a joy. I will get on with some pictures.

Caroline ... I guess maybe because the girls were preemies and seemed so floppy for so long ... I swear, to me, she looks like a 6 month old here ... she has such great head control! She went to the Pediatrician a few weeks ago for her 2 month and was 11 pounds 1 ounce and 21.5 inches tall. 50% for weight and 25% for height. Everything was great! Her doctor told me she could have 10 just like her at home! I will pretend that my kid really is super sweet and that she does not say that to everyone ;)

Post-milk snuggle
She loves her bath! She will hang out in there for half an hour!

One of my friends from ATL has identical twins two weeks younger than mine. Last week she brought them for a visit. I loved our time together and wish I would have taken more pictures. Her girls are so fun and so bright. Just a joy to be around! It was nice, too, to be able to hang out with Steph after they all went to bed!

Easter bunny!!

The girls are really sweet with Caroline and seem to really love being big sisters. Earlier tonight, Hannah was upset because she wanted to see her "baby sissy" but she was sleeping. Here, they are talking to her and she was smiling at them ... which she does a lot. I think the love is mutual!

Sacked out with Grammy ... I usually swaddle her because she sleeps better that way, but I love it when she will sleep unswaddled ... I love it when babies throw their arms up like this. Someone (Jen?) once told me that babies sleep like that when they feel secure and happy ... I hope she feels that way!

The girls' Aunt Sara is such a fun aunt and probably a much more creative and fun Mom than I am! She bought this adorable egg dying kit and let my girls pretty much take over! They had so much fun with it ... thanks Sara!!

Hannah ... and above is Meredith

Sara and the girls (her little one was napping and at the age where she most likely would not want to sit and do anything ... she wants to go, go, go!!)

getting started ...

Usually Caroline LOVES to stand up ... here, I think she was tired of me taking her picture and may have been ready for a nap ... it is my only picture of her standing though ... and I think the fuss face is kind-of cute ;)

With her sweet sister Hannah. At this particular moment in time, Meredith was "not in the mood" to have her picture taken (these are her words)

case in point ... the fuss face is not nearly as cute on a 2 year old!

Here, Caroline was not in the mood =)Smiles!

I came down from putting the twins to bed to this ...

Yes, they picked out these outfits ... down to the shoes and bows! They love to twirl like ballerinas and they call these their "ballet shoes" for some reason. They love the Little Einsteins and the only thing I can figure is maybe these look like June's shoes on that show (she is the character who loves to dance).

Hannah ...

Lap full of love! I just love having a baby who can just sort-of drift off to sleep when she is tired! What?! You had to work HARD to get the twins to go to sleep at this age!!

Decorating Easter cookies with Grammy

puddles and smiles

Things are going well here. Meredith and Hannah were sick last week but finally over it this week but Caroline now has it. Stinks to have germy older sibs! She is handling it OK but it is so sad to hear her pathetic hoarse cry and to watch her have a coughing fit then get this "what the heck did I just do" look on her face. She is smiling a lot now and that is a good feeling. She will even smile at the girls when they get close enough for her to see them. Well, I will get on with pics as I hear some 2 year olds getting up ...

I guess the girls got tired of waiting for me to "put the baby down" (that is what they say when they want to sit in my lap or want me to play with them) and decided to find a place in my lap that they could fit ... worked pretty well ...

tummy time ... getting better every day! She has a concentration face on here ...
smiles ...

more smiles ...

the time change threw us off and so I have had to wake the girls some ... thought I would get some sleeping pics of them ... Meredith ...

Hannah ... I think this is how they must always sleep (H on her tummy and M on her back) because ever since they were babies M always wakes up with crazy hair and H does not.

yet another paci lover ...

We get this puddle right outside of our garage and the girls love to play in it ...

future pitcher?

one coming and one going ...Meredith

Hannahpicking up rocks and dirt to toss in ...

indoor fun and outside ... finally!

We have had to be creative the last few weeks with all of us having some cabin fever. I even let them paint inside ... am I crazy or what!? We made a deal that paint stayed ON the sheet and they did pretty well though I think I had a few mini-strokes. The weather is getting nicer which makes us all happy! It is amazing how much happier I am when it is nice enough to get outside daily! I spent the better part of the morning cleaning off my porch and the better part of a nap a few days ago cleaning off my screened porch and I can't wait to be able to use them again! The girls have had a terrible cold the past few days and yesterday was particularly hard but Alan has a few days off at the start of next week so hopefully the girls will get better soon and we can all enjoy some time together. Here are a few pics from the week ...

... and Caroline sleeps through it all ... no, not really, she has been pretty awake and lively during the days. She is a morning kind-of gal and I get tons of good smiles in the AM and then she is a bit fussy in the evenings ... but I think that is pretty normal baby behavior. She is doing well at night. We can usually put her down between 9:30 and 11 and she sleeps until 5 and sometimes even 6 or 7! I don't know what "normal" babies do (as opposed to preemies) but I think that is pretty darned good. Days are tough because she is a cat napper which doesn't give me much time alone with the twins but at least I get enough sleep to deal with it all! I need to take some awake photos! 7 weeks old today ... hard to believe ... she is starting to thin out (with the hair ... not the cheeks and thighs =) but she still has more than the twins did at this age and I am starting to think that she will keep the hair on top and keep the dark color ... we'll see! She has this beautiful soft, blemish-free skin and I think we may be out of the woods with the baby acne as the Ped said usually they would get it by 6 weeks if they were going to (listen to me ... "they" ... I still think in terms of twins ...) All-in-all she is doing so well and is such a sweet addition ... the girls love to give her hugs and kisses and when she is up on my shoulder "gummimg" me like babies do they say "look, she is loving on Mommy's shoulder" ... it is so cute! They seem to love being big sisters most of the time. I am so proud of them.

We had a little playdate with one of the boys that goes to MMO with the girls ... how cute is he?! His Dad is the one that is the photographer and you can tell he knows what to do when there is a camera around! The girls, of course, picked out their outfits (what is it with those PJ shirts, they want to wear them everyday?!) ... including the shoes which is almost the funniest part ...

They love any kind of art project as I have mentioned before ... if anyone needs refrigerator art, let me know =)

Indoor finger painting ... these are meant to sort-of tell a story ... I remember a friend of mine (hi, Amy) saying this about her twins when they were dying Easter eggs. I asked the girls to put their hands in the paint b/c I wanted to get their hand prints ... Meredith was all about it and it became a fun thing for her to play all in her paint, Hannah, however became pretty upset that her hands were purple!

M-woo hoo! H-what?!

H-Mommy, I still don't know about this ...

M-woo hoo!!!

M-sissy, isn't this fun?! H-oh my goodness, my hands are purple!!

M-woo hoo ... look, Mommy, my hands are GREEN! H-I am really still concerned ... Meredith turned the painting into fingerpainting (they had brushes, too) and having fun and Hannah seriously just stood there and looked at her hands until we got in the bath and washed it all off ... so funny!

can't stop taking pictures!!

We are all dong well! This is week 2 of being solo with the 3 girls. It is going well. The baby has to cry sometimes while I read stories to the twins or dry their hair but for the most part, life is good! Caroline is a bit in the middle of the "six week peak" of fussiness but she is still such a sweet baby! Speaking of, she is waking right now so I will cut out ... here are a few pics!

Tummy time!!

Here, Hannah is getting her "boogies"
Apparently, the twins thought she needed cleaning ... poor Caroline ... I guess she will learn early that getting messed with by your older sisters is just part of life!

Moral support ... tummy time is tough!

This is Meredith giving her sister some love ...

We are to the age where we like to pick out our own outfits ... cute, huh? At least they match!

All the chicks ... this is my SIL and niece Sylvia ...

Ry holding a sleeping Sylvia ...

How cute is she?!

Another sleepy smile from Caroline ... hope she is dreaming about something good!