We're Up to Two & a Half

Thanks Cousin Avery for our fun new hats. We love them so much. Mama thinks Mazie and I look like pretty little flowers in ours. She thinks Elliott looks very handsome, and also that he would have been a great extra for M*A*S*H*. We think we'll be fitting into them just perfectly by the time spring arrives.
We all love you, Lucia

P.S. This is our smiley-est photo yet!

Happy Birthday Nannie

H's Nannie turned 89 this week. We all went over to her house for beverages, crab bisque, and cheesecake (actually, we just stayed for beverages, because we had to get the babies home to drink their own nighttime beverages). It was fun to be together. Each time we take the babies out it gets a little easier.

We wish Nannie a wonderful year. She is such a sweet and generous lady. She and Grandaddy are one of the best examples I've ever known of a loving, committed relationship. One of my favorite things that Nannie says is "I love you good." I think that is so sweet, and we definitely love her good too.

The photo is of Nannie with Mazie.

Our Bath Time

We give the babies a full bath two to three times a week. Most nights, if we don't bathe them, we give them a quick soak in warm water to rinse them off and relax them. Sometimes I will just strip one in the nursery and bring her or him
into the bathroom for a soak, leaving the others in the swings. So far I have only been peed on twice. When I get pooped upon, I will probably stop this risky maneuver.

If we are taking a full bath I often move everybody and everything into the bathroom, shut the door, turn on the heater, and spend about an hour bathing them.

We still use the pink dish pans we received from the hospital; thankfully the babies no longer fit in them. We use them to wash the babies outside the tub. Then we put them in the tub to rinse them off and soak them in the warm water. Having premature babies, we are not allowed to use any lotions or powders on them. So, we just suds, rinse, and dry.

Bathing is such an event. I don't look forward to it, but once we are all hunkered down in the bathroom, I enjoy spending that time with them. They don't care much for the sudsing up portion of the bath, but they love to soak away.

Separated

Last night the babies slept in their own cribs for the first time. Tiffany and Clay helped us rearrange the room. Elliott's crib had been all the way at one end of the nursery and we wanted to bring him closer to the girls. This makes it easier to check on them when they are all right at our bedroom, and it makes heating the room easier.

The babies seemed to do just fine, as we had to wake each of them up for the morning feed. Lucia and Elliott had been sleeping through most nights, but Mazie always wakes me up to feed her sometime between three and four. Last night she slept from a little after ten until seven. Additionally, she has rolled to her stomach for the first time during their afternoon nap today; she is napping on her stomach, as is Elliott, as I write this post.

As you can see from the photos I took yesterday afternoon, the time had come to separate them. The pictures show Mazie having to deal with Lucia's feet. While Lucia seems comfortable between her brother and sister, Mazie doesn't seem to be having too much fun.

In Motion

Rolling has become the thing to do in this house. At two am Saturday, Elliott rolled onto his stomach for the first time. I was up feeding Mazie at the time. He was on his side when I started feeding her and flat on his stomach when I finished. He seemed content and was not fussin'. Before going to back to bed though, I turned him onto his back, not so he'd sleep better, but so I would. Since Saturday morning, he has turned on his stomach two more times.

The pattern for rolling over is pretty typical of reaching physical milestones. Elliott first rolled onto his side December 13th, Mazie January 11th, and Lucia January 15th. Elliott is usually the first to try something new. He is standing up (with us holding him for balance) a lot now. He loves it, smiling all the time, sometimes crying when we sit him back down. Mazie will put a little weight on her legs sometimes. Lucia, rarely will practice standing.

As far as "verbal" skills go, the girls lead the way there. Mazie will talk to you nonstop, telling you all she knows. Lucia likes to talk too, and squeal. Elliott doesn't have a lot to say, but he will laugh out loud a bit. It is so fun to have a conversation with Mazie. She will look at you and respond with all kinds of sounds and expressions. You get the sense she really does have something to say. Lucia doesn't converse as much as she exclaims, often cooing and squealing with delight or satisfaction.

Lucia is the comforter. Whenever anyone is upset she is quick to give them a hand to suck on or to put her hand on their shoulder. Even when the others are on an even keel, she frequently touches them in some way. Last week they were napping in one crib. H went to check on them and found Lucia with her hand inside Elliott's shirt sucking on her own hand through his shirt. This week during nap time I found Lucia with her hand inside Mazie's pant leg, sucking on Mazie's knee. Mazie had a round wet mark on the knee of her pants when I got her up from her nap.


We are enjoying watching their personalities emerge and develop.

Winter Weather

Yesterday we had treacherous winter weather. One television channel was reporting that our town was included in an area that would receive up to two feet of snow (surely a typo). The internet said we'd receive two to five inches of snow. In reality we had about an inch of rain and eight snowflakes. While we were disappointed that the snow did not come this far south, we did get to roast marshmallows in the fireplace and watch a beautiful winter sunset.

Friends from Afar

During the transition from our mac site to this site, we had our good friends Alex and Melanie come for a visit from California. Between Christmas and New Year's they flew into Atlanta and drove down here with our friend Amanda and her son Landon. We had a great three days together. Alex is twelve; we've known her half of her life. She was so good with the babies, natural and confident in her handling of them. She loved picking out their outfits for the day. Landon is a sweetheart with an easy disposition. Two great kids who are being raised by great moms. We miss them and wish they lived closer. Come back soon!

Amanda & Landon, Alex & Lucia, Melanie & Elliott and Mazie

Alex and Lucia

Alex and Elliott

Melanie and Mazie

See how we've grown

Here are the month birthday photos from the past four months. All orders, as you probably expect by now, are Lucia, Elliott, Mazie. I can see how they've changed each month, but I notice the most dramatic changes between the first and second month photos.

Two weeks and two days (first day at home)

One Month

Two Month

Three Month

Four Month

Foot Rest

This week Lucia has been throwing her legs up on Mazie when they sleep. I've seen her do it three times now. While it is as cute as can be, it also means they probably need to be in separate cribs. Since the arrival of the holidays, we've been using the third crib for storage (a sign you live in a small house). This weekend we are going to clean out the crib and try everybody in their own cribs. This makes us very sad, but months ago we had said that it would likely be the first of the year when they had to be separated. Also, Elliott really does seem to enjoy having more space to roll to his side in and to move around in. Sometimes for naps, when I am checking on them a lot, I still bed the three of them together.

Ped Visit

Our visit to the pediatrician this week went well. The babies got their four month shots. They have not felt well today, each of them running a fever and fussing more than usual. We have no real issues to speak of. We are glad that they each are doing so well. We go back in March for the sixth month appointment.

Our main issue at this time seems to be Mazie’s digestive system. She is now on her third formula. We switched everyone to a soy formula the beginning of November due to gas. In December we switched Mazie to a formula that is pre-digested, or broken-down, because she was still having gas and the soy was constipating her. She still has episodes of painful gas. Unfortunately, or fortunately, she had one of these episodes at the doctor yesterday. The doctor tested her for blood in her intestines; this came back negative. I am now going to chart her day and my diet to see if we can find any correlation with her problems. In addition to putting Mazie on Nutramigen formula in December, I have been off of all dairy since before Thanksgiving. I could go to an even stricter diet or we could pull her off all breast milk, but we are going to watch for a while to see if we can find a pattern first.

You know we love to report their weight gains, so here they are:

Lucia
She weighed 11 pounds and 10 ½ ounces
She is 22 ¾ inches long
In weight, she is in the 75th percentile for babies born at 34 weeks gestation.
Exactly one month ago, Lucia weighed 10 pounds and 4 ounces, a gain of one pound and six and a half ounces.

Elliott
He weighed 12 pounds 5 ½ ounces
He is 23 ½ inches long
In weight, he is at the 75th percentile, up from 50th percentile, for babies born at 34 weeks gestation. His length is at the 90th percentile. Our doctor said next time we see her she will have to use the full-term baby growth chart for Elliott.
One month ago, Elliott weighed 11 pounds and 8 ounces, a gain of thirteen and a half ounces.

Mazie
She weighed 10 pounds 5 ounces
She is 21 ¾ inches long
In weight, she has moved from 25th percentile for 34 weekers to almost the 50th percentile.
One month ago, she weighed 9 pounds and 5 ounces, a gain of one pound.

Additionally, while clothing sizes for babies vary as much as sizes for adults, Lucia and Mazie are still in 0-3 month sizes, while Elliott is usually in a 3-6 month size.

Two out of Three on number Four

The babies just celebrated their four month birthdays. Happy Birthday to them. I could really tell a difference this month in their abilities to track (follow my snaps with their eyes). It was also a lot easier to keep them sitting.
This is also the first time I have ever captured two of the three smiling in a photo. I could hardly believe it. Lucia was Miss Smily this photo session; I guess trying to make up for being Miss Whiny the last few sessions.
The babies had a good day today. We took a bath. We (meaning me) also started being deligent today about putting them down in the crib for naps. I have been very lax about putting them down for naps, most days letting them sleep out in the family room in a swing or seat. While this has been fine, the time is quickly approaching where they need to be napping in their cribs. Today I put them down for about an hour before their ten am feed and for a little over an hour after their one pm feed. They fretted a little but overall it was easier than I anticipated it would be.
Tomorrow we go to the big city to see our pediatrician and get our four month shots.

Happy Day

H just had her 36th birthday. It was boring in respects to activity. We were going to go to the big city and see a movie and have an early supper. H's mom was lined up to keep the babies as her birthday present for H. The movie H wanted to see was not playing, so we decided we'd still head south and go shopping. We changed plans as we got up this morning and decided we would rather spend time around the house working on some projects and run to Wal-Mart to get the things we were in need of. Our day was sucked into the vortex of lost time and the only thing we can look back and say we did was go to Wal-Mart, never fun, even less so the first Saturday of the month, and eat at McDonald's, never fun, no matter the day. No closets were cleaned out. No shelves were built. No baby clothes were organized. With three babies, we are learning to be flexible and go easier on ourselves.

This morning we did have our friends over for a brunch and later today we are going for a walk in the woods. Laughter. Conversation. Fresh Air. Whatever your stage of life, it is always the little things that mean the most anyway. It is the little things we remember.

Happy Birthday, H, we love you.

First Walk

I have said since we've come home that we would start walking come the first of the year. January First came, and with it Old Man Winter. Or, at least the Old Man that makes it this far south. The high was around 50 degrees and the wind was blowing, but we were determined to take the babies out. We bundled them in clothes, blankets, and hats. They enjoyed the fresh air and looking around at the change of scenery.

Lucia

ElliottMazie

Change of Scenery

We have changed our posts to blogspot from Mac for a few simple reasons. One main reason is that we like the way blogspot organizes our posts. Also, our Mac page is held on our computer rather than the internet, and it is slowing my Apple down considerably. While we will miss the more polished look of the Mac site, we think we, and hopefully you, will be happy with the change.

Please bear with us as we learn to navigate the new landscape.

New Year's Motto

Happy New Year to all.
A good friend of ours told us this morning that New Year's mottos are the thing to make this year, not resolutions. I like this idea because it gives you something positive on which to ruminate rather than a mark to miss. While I think I will still make a few resolutions for 2008, I do plan to come up with a few mottos to, hopefully, guide me through this year.

Here are the mottos we think the babies may have come up with for themselves for 2008.
Lucia: Squealing does the spirit good.
Elliott: Crawling through the world.
Mazie: More joy, less gas.

We wish you only health and happiness in 2008.