Merry, Merry... Merry Christmas!

I can't believe the babies are 7 months old!!! It is truly getting easier every day. As I type this, Izzy is playing in the floor (surrounded by a baby fence that takes up the entire living room), Abby is in the toy car (playing with toys) and Ally is in the jumper, which we call "the office" (They're so serious when they're in it... cranking and spinning the toys)! They're all playing nicely, and I love to listen to the sounds! This will last for about 10 minutes before someone is unhappy with their situation, but for now, everyone is happy.

They're eating solid foods now... we're still on 1st foods: carrots, squash, green beans, etc. They also eat oatmeal cereal with peaches or applesauce. At first the feeding was a total pain, trying to get them to eat from a spoon and getting them to understand it will fill that empty tummy like the beloved bottle. Ally, my chunky baby, LOVES her bottle and was having a hard time adjusting, but is now getting used to it. My littlest, Izzy, has always been the best eater. I think she probably eats the most, but works it all off in her "floor routine", as I like to call it. She's goes from one end of the living room to the next, rolling around and getting up on her knees like she's going to crawl. She's a very active baby and will most likely be crawling by my next post.

The feeding routine at this point is: bottle in early morning, cereal/fruit about 11am, bottle in afternoon, vegetables 1 to 2 tubs in evening followed by a tiny bottle, and cereal/bottle in late evening. I've been very confused on what and when to feed the babies. Everything I read says your baby will "let you know". Well... for a new mom, it's not always that easy. I'm always worried they're not getting enough or they're getting too much. One thing I can say... they're definitely having A LOT more poopy diapers. Seriously... today, It is not even noon and I have changed 6 poops already!!! ugh! My new saying is: "poopy diapers... it's what I do." I have asked a lot of people for advice, but most don't remember what or how much they fed their babies. Even the Dr told me the babies will "let me know". So... I'm figuring it must not be rocket science and they'll be ok as long as they're gaining weight and seem satisfied. They still spit up, which is a little frustrating. I've heard they usually stop by now, but no such luck. I still have them on soy, which helps with the tummy problems, but not so much on the spit ups.

They're definitely interacting more and more every day. They roll around on the floor together and I often have to separate them because they're biting each other's hands, pulling hair, kicking, etc. Although that sounds rough, they don't know what they're doing yet... it's very unintentional. They laugh at each other and talk their baby talk too. It's very sweet. Sometimes, when one is upset, they even calm each other by just seeing their sister's face. Right now, the one in the car and the one in the office are face-to-face and giggling at each other. Very cute!

Here's an individual breakdown of what each baby is doing now:

Izzy has two bottom teeth... very cute! As I mentioned earlier, she's getting up on her knees and rocking, but not crawling yet. She rolls all over the floor and, if she sees a toy, she can maneuver her body to get where it is pretty efficiently. She is going through a phase where she's afraid of strangers. She only wants her mommy and daddy and gets pretty upset when someone else is holding her. Being aware of this, we've tried to intentionally break her of it, letting her spend more time with her grandmas, and she's getting better. Matt and I went to Tulsa last weekend and spent the day. Matt's mom and my mom watched the girls and Izzy did just fine. If it was anyone other than them, though, I think we would have had a scream-fest on our hands. She is very sweet to her sisters and seems very concerned when one is crying. Izzy plays on the floor a lot and doesn't really liked to be confined to a bouncy seat or swing. She looks up at me all day to make sure I'm still there and smiles very easily.

Abby is a little cutie. She just started getting her two bottom teeth a few days ago. She also rolls all over the floor, but is not making attempts to crawl yet. She likes the bouncy seat a lot, but often I have to take her toys away from her because she gets mad at them and starts screaming! It's very strange. I take them away and she's happy again! Matt and I both think Abby somehow knows how cute she is... if you stand her up on your lap, she sticks her little belly out and has that little "I know I'm cute" look on her face. She really warmed up to her daddy while he was home over the Thanksgiving break and may just be a daddy's girl... though she still likes her mommy pretty well too. Abby shows good dexterity when playing with her toys, and her meemaw thinks she is very smart ;)

Ally... oh Ally. Ally is... well, kind of a brat right now. She wants what she wants when she wants it. And she screams and screams until she gets it. I have good things to say too... just hold on a minute. She is very loud when she screams and it can by very trying sometimes! I have a feeling (as do others) she might be my little temper tantrum thower someday. I would also like to go on record saying, I am not the only one that has used the term "brat". I know, I know... she's only 7 months old, but I'm pretty sure she knows what she's doing. Ok... for the good stuff: Ally LOVES to be held and she usually cries because of this. She would be happy being held and rocked 24/7. And, really, that is a sweet temperment, right? I mean, she loves to cuddle and loves people. She is my baby baby. She still likes to be swaddled, likes her pacifier, loves to be held and rocked and wants her bottle. She rolls over, but is not nearly as mobile as the other two. (Probably because she spends less time on the floor?!) She has beautiful baby blue eyes and big chunk-a-munk cheeks and laughs a lot! She is pretty easy to make chuckle, but she thinks her daddy is the funniest thing ever. He literally has to just look at her to make her laugh out loud. So cute! If you haven't seen the video of her laughing, go back to the last post... so precious!

As for the sleep situation: I now have a pack-n-play set up in the guest bedroom and in our bedroom. For naps, I put one down in the nursery, one in the guest room and one in our bedroom. This ensures they don't wake each other up prematurely from their naps. At night, I lay them all in their cribs in the same room. If one gets up (which happens almost every night), they get promptly moved to the guest room pack-n-play to spend the rest of the night in solitude! Luckily, I have two monitor bases, so I can still hear both rooms from my bed. All of the books said the girls would get used to each others' cries. This is true for falling asleep if one is crying... it kind of lulls them to sleep after a while. But this is not true for going from a deep, silent sleep to hearing someone scream in the middle. Knowing this, I might have tried putting their cribs in separate rooms... maybe. They go down very well, a lot of people are amazed to see that I don't rock them to sleep, just lay them in their crib and they fall asleep. They may cry or talk to themselves for a while, but have learned to soothe themselves well.

I have been doing most days on my own still... Mom and Cheryl help with Dr's appointments, mommy's day out, professional pictures, etc, but overall, I can do this on my own, which is still a very good feeling. Now, people can come over to see the babies when they want, rather than feel obligated. My feeling is: a baby can cry a little... If it takes a minute to get to her... It may just teach her a little patience. (Though I can't say this is working for Ally just yet!) Of course, I distinguish between cries... if it is a pain cry, they're attended to promptly... don't call DHS on me or anything! Ok, let's see, I've talked about their eating, pooping, sleeping and playing... that's pretty much what we do around here! I'm so happy and blessed to have these beautiful little girls in my life!

I hope you all have a Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas like we will!!!

Here's an example of the babies playing... you might notice Izzy is in the bouncer and Ally is in the car... switched them around since the beginning of my post...