3 months!

Alex, you are such a sweet, social, giggly boy. You study people until they make eye contact and then you are ready to flash a smile and begin "chatting". You are extremely strong. You have started to enjoy tummy time and you have been rolling over from your stomach to back. You can roll both ways. You enjoy the bumbo and your play mat. You have had nights where you have slept 11 hours but you have just gone through a growth spurt and have been waking up a couple of times. You usually wake up happy.

Jordie, you are such an adorable, happy, smiley boy. You love to be held facing out and enjoy watching the going ons of your siblings. You are not very fond of the bumbo or tummy time and prefer the swing or sitting in laps. You are consistently up several times a night and love to snuggle up after your feedings.

Alex and Jordan, you both love to be changed. You giggle the moment I begin to undress you. You love your bath times and often start smiling as soon as you hear the water running. You either nap 3-4 shorter naps a day or 2 long naps. You are both starting to go down for the night around 7ish. You are learning to put yourselves to sleep. I can nurse you, lay you down with a soother and you will drift off. Sometimes I will be walking around the house with one of you and when I look down, you are sound asleep. You both enjoy sucking on your hands and often push your soothers out so you can enjoy your hands instead. You have both blessed us beyond measure and we are so thankful that you are a part of our family. Double the blessing indeed!

21 months Mikayla

It has been amazing to watch you change and develop over the last few months. You have always been a happy, cheerful girl and you delight in making others laugh. You are (so far) the loudest of your siblings and love to use your voice to shriek in delight and also to shriek in protest.

You spend your days getting into mischief. You are tireless and relentless. There are times I feel such exasperation and then I look at your cheeky little smile and I can't help but laugh.

You adore your little brothers and nearly always know who is who. It is quite amazing actually. One quick glance and "hi baby Alex" or "hi baby Jordan". There are times that you want my lap to yourself and I do my best to accommodate for you.

You try and participate in everything that your big brother and sister do and do not consider yourself younger in any way. You are starting to play well with them and I notice friendships developing.

You are sweet, clever and our little Miky Moo.

We love you.

Last week was a tough week. Things are hard. Constant laundry, house cleaning, grocery shopping, homeschooling, toddler trouble, sibling fighting, baby care........... It's hard to keep my head above water sometimes. I remind myself that although the days are long, the months/years are going quickly. They don't stay little forever...........

{Jordan}

{Alex}

Brothers in Bumbos

{Alex} {Jordan}

Twin Tummy Time

{Jordan} {Alex}

Twins are a lot of work. There is the constant changing, nursing, holding that comes along with a baby, and yet there are two. The twins, however, are not as hard as my toddler. Toddlers are hard! They have such constant, tireless energy and each and every day they set out to conquer the world, or at least every cupboard they are not meant to go into. Each day I am chasing Mikayla around, trying to keep track of her and trying to keep the babies safe and accounted for. Yesterday I enlisted Mikayla's help to bathe the babies thinking that it would be fun for her and easier for me. I left the room with Alex to grab another cloth and came back to this.....

Caileigh has become increasingly mature in the last few weeks. There has been a subtle change in her willingness and desire to help out. Caileigh has always enjoyed moments of being helpful but she tends to be more of a free spirit. Whereas Aiden loves to clean and organize, Caileigh will merely tolerate it and is probably driven more from the fear of losing her TV time. Lately she is finding ways to help out without being asked. She will pour Mikayla a glass of milk, wipe up a spill or grab a diaper when needed. It is wonderful to see these moments of helpfulness. Her new job that she has been really excited about is "babysitting". Each morning, while Aiden practices his reading, Caileigh "babysits" mikayla. Caileigh has been teaching her colors and animals and other material that Caileigh has deemed important for Mikayla to learn. It is fun to see these two sisters interact.

Alex 14 lbs 8 oz

Jordan 15 lbs 4 oz

Go ahead and try not to smile......

ahhh, that's better........

It's been one of those weeks. Crazy busy and yet when I try and think about what we did, I can't really remember. Sean was out of town so that probably erased some brain cells. I was pretty excited as I watched his plane touch down. For the last six months, Sean has been undergoing management training. He has had hours of projects, presentations to complete and has been out of town each month . He completed this training on Friday! He has an interview next week and then it basically means that he is eligible to become a store manager, should a position arise. It has been hard on him, and hard on us. I am very proud that he has completed this training time.

While he was away, I was getting tired of having to put Mikayla back into her bed each time she climbed out of the playpen so I decided to move her into a big girl bed. The older two transitioned at 19 months so she is right on their schedule. It was around 8pm one night and the big kids got out of bed and helped me to set things up. Mikayla was so excited! So excited, in fact, that for the next couple of days she wouldn't nap, was getting up extremely early and would not go to bed at night. Today, however, she napped and she is tucked in upstairs for the bed and not a sound has been heard.......

School is going well. We are starting to get into the groove. The kids usually have their independent work (printing, reading etc.) completed by 9 and then we have the rest of the morning to go on outings. Swimming, park, library etc. We start on science, language arts, math once Mikayla naps around 1. I love the quality of interactions it creates for me and the older two. I love getting to watch them solve problems and enjoy creating things.

I went to look for pictures of the oldest two and of the babies and realized that I have not taken any this week?? Not quite sure how that happened. I did manage to find this video of Caileigh and Jordan. The babies adore their siblings and it is cute to watch their interactions.

The babies are quite amazing. Utterly, truly amazing babies! They are so happy and content and are starting to sleep well. Last night Alex slept 11 hours!!! Can you believe it? Jordan was only up once too!! They nurse well and often during the day and are definitely growing. They are in 6 month clothing now. I am curious about how much they weigh. I will try and get them in to the clinic next week.

Well, as I type, Jordan is getting upset and needs some help going down for the night. Gotta fly........

Diaper Shower

One of my dancers has been wanting to throw the babies and I a shower. I didn't want people to feel that they had to bring gifts so they told people if they wanted to bring something, they could bring diapers! We had a great time and it was fun to socialize with all the girls from dance. I won't be teaching until January so it was nice to connect with them after the summer.

Getting ready to go.....

Identical boys in not so identical moods.

{Jordan}

{Alex}

Ally and her diaper cake creation!

Hard Worker

Apparently, Aiden was trying to dig down to the water source. Good thing we stopped him before he hit a gas line!

Blue Eyes

{Jordan}

{Alex}

The boys are at such a fun interactive stage! I love watching them smile, coo and giggle. The boys schedule has been pretty much opposite lately. I have been trying to start to coordinate them a little bit so that they are at least staggered closer together. This will provide them with more time to be awake together. Yesterday, for the first time, they noticed one another. They chatted and smiled and took great joy in watching the other. My heart swelled. Hopefully I can capture it on video soon to share.

Here is a little clip from this morning.

First Day of (home) School!

After our morning activities we participated in a homeschool picnic. Grandma came with us and we originally thought we might go for a quick visit and ended up staying over 3 hours! It was great fun and we look forward to our next get together next Friday.

Caileigh and Mikayla wanted their pictures taken by the front door. As Caileigh is participating in the same activities as Aiden, it only seems fair.

She was, however, a little put out that Mikayla wanted to be in the picture with her.

This is an example of her "angry" face.

Auntie Misty came to visit. She had her hands full!

We ventured on picnics.

Jumped for joy!

Played monkey in the tree.

Slept. {Alex}

Slept some more. {Jordan}

And just enjoyed being together.

{Jordan} {Alex}

{Jordan} {Alex}

{Caileigh was "off" and didn't want to join the picture. It made more sense when she spiked a fever later on}