The Martin Girls: 4th of July

Ok, so I've been on a little blogging hiatus, but I'm back. Honestly, everything was so mundane for a few weeks, I didn't have much to blog about. However, the girls did a lot over the holiday weekend.... I'll share with you in a sec.

Here's the latest on what they're doing:

We're all very big into saying "Uh-oh". Anytime anything is dropped or anyone falls down, we will hear this word in triple time. Izzy and Abby have been saying it well for about 3 weeks, Ally just started this week. Her version still sounds a bit like, "uh-uh", but she's getting the hang of it.

I've finally got them to go to one long nap after lunch. This works out much better for going places and getting things done. They go down about 1:00 and sleep until 3:30 or 4. Most of the time, I leave them in their cribs until 4 for some "alone time", as I like to call it. Alone time for mommy and babies. They're constantly on top of each other and together and I think a little alone time is good. Usually, they don't fuss much about it... they've got a few soft toys in their cribs, so they keep busy.

Speaking of cribs, we've decided to add double doors to the opening between the two rooms that make up the nursery. Ally has been sleeping in the guest room pack and play for quite a while now, because she has a tendency to wake up her sisters. So... we're going to try to move her back to her crib, but move the crib to the other side of the double doors and move a changing table into the room with the other 2 cribs. I'll put a fan on both sides for a little white noise and to drown out any crying. This is our first attempt at getting her back in her crib. If this doesn't work, we'll most likely turn the guest room into Ally's room with a little paint and redecorating. Currently that room is kind of the catch-all, and we kind of like it that way, so let's hope the double doors work.

The girls are all very much into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show right now. We watch it a couple of times a day and the girls dance and giggle when they see Mickey. Abby bobs her head, Ally sways side to side, and Izzy will pick up her feet, sway and sometimes even bounce. They look back at me, grin really big, then keep dancing. So cute! I'll try to add a clip of this soon.

A big thing the babies like to do lately is climb on the couch. They LOVE to romp and giggle all over it. Here's a pic of the couch fun:

left to right - Abby, Ally, Izzy

We're having a little problem with the toy sharing lately. It seems they always want what the others have. Hmmmm.... guess it starts young, huh? Anyway, I think it's impossible for them to understand the sharing concept right now, so I use the rule: whoever had it first, gets to play with it. When they lay it down, it's free to take. Now, if I see them sharing, I don't enforce the rule, but generally, they get pretty terratorial when sisters try to play with their toy. It's pretty difficult, but we're doing the best we can. Other mothers tell me they think my girls will be well-rounded, able to play with other kids well because they have to share all their toys. I, on the other hand, have this fear that they will be extremely possessive ("mine!") because they have to fight for everything they have. I guess time will tell.... let's hope they're right!

We've been having some other babies come over for play dates once every two weeks on Thursday mornings. I make the coffee and another mom brings breakfast. It starts at 9, and we usually sit and chat until 11:30 or 12:00. Here's a pic of the babies playing. From left to right in the pic: Izzy, Pierce, Cooper, Andi Mae, Ally, Elizabeth, Abby. The first few play dates, Abby and Ally were a little clingy, but they're starting to relax and play with others a little better.

The babies are really starting to mimic what we say. For example, if we say "I love you", Abby will repeat something that sounds a lot like it. They're starting to point to body parts pretty well too. When asked, "Where's your head", "Where's your nose?" they'll point to it. They're not right all the time, but most of the time they do well. They still love to wrinkle up their nose and breathe hard when asked if they're mad, and they're doing well at waving bye bye. These are just some of the things they're doing, but that's all I'm going to capture for now.

We had a pretty busy 4th of July weekend. Matt had Monday off, so we decided to do more than the usual. On Saturday, even though it was raining, we decided to go to Tulsa to eat at Red Lobster, then go to the mall. This was the girls' first trip to the mall. You should see the looks we get when we go out. I swear... we hardly could eat our meal for all the interruptions we received from people wanting to make comments or ask questions! Here's a pic of us heading to the mall: Ally's turned around looking at me. Izzy is next to her and Abby is in the back.

In front of Dillard's in the strollers...

Izzy is in the single stroller. Ally and Abby in double.

While at the mall, we had the girls' feet measured and got them some tennis shoes. Feet sizes are: Ally - 5.5, Izzy - 5 and Abby - 4. P.S.... Man, it's expensive having 3 babies!

On Monday, we went to Matt's parents house for some BBQ and some fun in the baby pool. They had a baby pool set up that's shaped like a whale... here's some pics of the girls playing in it:

Left to right - Abby, Izzy, Ally

Abby

Ally, just before she decided she didn't like it anymore.

Izzy loved every minute and could've stayed in for a very long time.

Meemaw and Papaw also had a fun pool set up for the older grandkids. Here's Madison and Damon playing in their pool:

After the whale pool, we decided to see if the babies wanted to play in the big kids' pool. They enjoyed it too! You won't see any of pics of Ally here because 1) She was the baby I was responsible for and 2) she didn't want to stay in long.

Abby