Bye Vani, Weekend Update

We have had several exciting things happen over the weekend. But first, the sad news- Vani is back home in Germany! She and her parents were able to spend Thurs and Fri with us. Dave took everyone to a picnic on base. Vani went to a surprise party and Subfest. They toured the base and parts of Groton, New London. They went to Fort Griswold and climbed the monument. On the 4th of July, Klaus, Vani's dad bought us dinner - lobster and steamers!! They were very yummy and It was the first time that Klaus cooked lobsters at home! What would July 4 be without fireworks? Klaus and Dave went to get a "few" and Klaus bought a ton! Dave and Klaus really hit it off. They got Dave's motorcycle in riding order, cooked the dinner and were like two kids playing with the fireworks! (Thanks Klaus!) Sabine and I also had a good time and enjoyed talking about Vani and her son and taking care of the triplets. Before we knew it it was time to take Vani to the airport Saturday morning. The house has been very weird without her here. I was really used to her helping me without being asked and enjoyed her company. We all miss her tons and hope she can visit next spring! If you ever have the chance to host an exchange student I say Go For It! It is an awesome adventure and the past two years with Tim and then Vanessa have been great!

Onto the happier news- we have started giving the trio "real food" - aka mashed potatoes, diced peaches and cooked diced carrots. They seem very unsure but are not gagging too much or spitting it out. I have a few pics to share -








I am trying to add one diced food to each lunch and dinner. We are working with bananas, potatoes, carrots, green beans, arrowroot biscuits for right now. The faces they make with the new textures and tastes are quite cute! They each had 2 biscuits after dinner last night and loved them! I have been very excited to see them reaching for the food on their trays and they held those biscuits very well. Jess is really working on her pincer grasp, but the boys tend to shove the whole hand in their mouth!

Logan has reached yet another big milestone - he can now sit up all by himself every time he tries! He is the most mobile right now and is getting everywhere! He can go from tummy to sitting and back to tummy with almost hardly any problems. I love it when he smiles at me after he sits up- he is so proud of himself!
However, with this new found ability comes trouble - he is now crawling over the crib spacer! I managed to get a pic today at nap time - it is not the best pic but shows you how determined he is. I had already moved him back to his side once before. He was doing this no more than 5 minutes later--


I guess the second crib will have to go up sooner than expected!! I was hoping to wait until we got into the house in Groton later this month. Apparently, Logan does not want to wait!
We moved the crib and Jess' cradle into Vani's old room yesterday. It feels really weird not to be sleeping with them close by, but it is also better since I can now read and relax in bed before trying to fall asleep! OK, that is it for now but scroll down I posted about the new car seats earlier today.

Look Mom - New Seats !

Well a while back we noticed that the boys were getting too big for their infant car seats. We spent the next several weeks researching our options - boy there were a ton! We finally settled on two different brands - Radian 65 or Britax Marathon. They are both highly rated and around $200 - 250. We might be able to put all three Radians across the back bench, but definitely not the Marathons. If we put all three in back how do we handle getting them in and out rear facing? We know Jess is going to be rear facing for quite some time and would that work with the other two forward facing? It was a major dilemma. While I was on a car seat forum to ask about this I was told of a discount at the Navy Exchange on Britax for June. OK, problem solved! Dave and I discussed that since we have the room only two needed to be in the back so - We ended up getting 3 Britax Marathons for only $170 a piece!! No sales tax and free shipping! They arrived over the weekend and I thought I'd share some pics - headed for home 10 days old- they look tiny!


8 months later - they look huge!



the brand new seats- they look tiny again!

No video yet - sorry

I am still working on the video of Logan and Will working on their crawling so hopefully early next week. Vani is back in town with her parents for the next few days and then on Saturday we need to take her to the airport. The babies were very excited to see her and so were Aurora and Shasta. They all had a great time on their vacation and after dinner we got to see some pics and hear some great stories. Today is a picnic then tonight a carnival on base. We expect to be extra busy of the weekend so probably no post until Sunday. Have a great July 4th !

Another Quick Week

I am amazed at how quickly time is flying by. It has been another full week without an update -sorry.

We have some new exciting milestones to share. Logan is starting to get into a sit position all by himself!! He has been working really hard the last few days and has done it with minimum help from us several timea and then over the weekend - he did it! He is still very wobbly getting in and out of sit but he can now sit as well as Will and Jess. He has gotten better at his commando crawl and I'm glad the gates are up!

Will is trying to skip the commando crawl and start regular crawling. He can get to all fours very easily so I don't think it will be too much longer. He can roll all over the living room and loves to take toys away from Logan and Jess!

Jess is doing well. She still loves to sit and hates having to reach for toys. We are working on her getting out of sit and starting to commando crawl. She does not have it yet, but is working hard (when she wants to! LOL).

We are all doing really well with our straw sippies and get them at lunch and dinner. We added cheerios to the menu this weekend and the boys love them. Will eats as many as are on the tray so we can only put two at a time! Jessica will pick them up and try them, but she prefers the puffs. We had a rough lunch today. Logan was very very unhappy and I could not figure it out. Once they started working on sippies and cheerios and puffs he calmed down. The therapist thinks that he was just really unhappy about the "baby food" and wants more table food! Oh No! I am not ready for this next stage. I am going shopping later for a few new items - tofu, cooked carrots and green beans, gelatin cubes and mashed yams and regular potatoes were all reccommended as good first "table foods". Let the fun begin! I will be sure to start posting pics of the mess! I am also working on a video of Logan crawling and I hope to have it up very soon within the next day or two. Hope all is well with everyone and enjoy the great day!

8 Months Old !

The trio is 8 months old today! YEAH!! I truly can't believe how the
time is flying by. Seems like we were traveling to the NICU just yesterday!



Logan has no teeth yet,but he is drooling like a madman! He still only has peach fuzz for hair, weighs in at about 16 pounds and has started commando crawling all over. He holds his own bottles and the boy loves to eat. He always has his mouth wide open for food and kicks his feet whenever the spoon is coming his way! He is also doing well sitting up by himself. Now we are working on getting from the floor to sitting all by himself. He has also been trying to get the regular crawl down. He is working hard and gets frustrated and whinny. He loves to talk to anyone who will listen or to no one at all. He has the best wide mouth smile and the twinkle in his eyes when he does it -- priceless!




Will has a good bit of hair- a light blond and two teeth which came thru in one weekend! He is also commando crawling and rolling everywhere. He weighs about 15 pounds. Will is also a good sitter when placed and is also working hard on getting to the position all by himself. Like Logan, Will is a great eater. He has been holding his bottle for a while and now loves to hold a spoon while eating. Boy can he make a mess! His tray is almost always the dirtiest. He is our little inquisitive guy. When given a new toy he spends a great deal of time just looking it over and trying to figure it out -- priceless!




Jessica has some very cute light brown hair. She just cut her second tooth the other day and can sit by herself the best. She weighs just a tad over 13 pounds. She
has no desire to crawl yet. She will stay in her sit for a long time and the boys always seem to leave toys nearby so no need to move! LOL Just like her brothers this girl can eat! We go through about 7 to 8 jars of food a day! She has started to master the pincer grasp and loves eating her Gerber Puffs. She has been holding her bottles for a long time as well. Her nickname is "demanding diva" and it really suits her. She definitely lets you know when she is unhappy or wants something. However, with the boys all over the place she usually ends up losing her toys and getting used as a prop for the boys to push off of and she is not ok with that! That being said she wakes up happy and every morning her smile just melts our hearts - priceless!

I can't believe how far they have come from when they were born. They continue to amaze me everyday and I am truly grateful that we have been given this opportunity by God to raise these children. Some days are tough I won't lie. It can be exhausting. However, I think that we just do the best we can and know that they are only this little for a short period of time so we better enjoy it as best we can!