Life Is Sweet

All has been going wonderfully here... I have lots of new updates!

WE FINALLY SOLD THE OLD HOUSE last week! It seemed to drag on and on FOREVER, but it's finally OVER! Although it appraised, we had some issues getting it checked for termites (since the crawl space was so tight) and had a ton of hold ups from the buyers and them getting approved and getting the paperwork done. What a mess it was, and an extra stress we are so glad to be rid of! Being free of it, makes me love my new house that much more! Here are some pics of the new house...

Izzy's pink monkey room



Guest Bath


Girls' Jack & Jill Bath (between Ally and Abby's room)


Ally's Bee and ladybug room


Abby's purple birdy room


Big Living room


Big kitchen and dining

Awesome pool in the backyard!

My bathroom/tub... my fav spot in the house!

Master bedroom



Ok, now that you've seen my new home, let me fill you in on how the girls are doing! They're all little recorders right now... repeating EVERYTHING they hear... which is proving to not always be good ;)

Here's a recent pic of them (Izzy, Abby and Ally)

The other day, I was having family over for dinner in the evening and was draining hot pasta in the sink. Some of the hot water got on me and I spilled half the pasta in the sink, and a curse word slipped out. I turned around to see Ally watching me at the fence, but didn't think much about it, preoccupied with my burning hand and ruined pasta. That night, my mom was playing with Ally as she was playing on her play kitchen. Mom said she intentionally knocked something off behind the kitchen and bent over, saying a curse word over and over. (Mimicking me to the tee!) Mom, of course, got tickled, which encouraged the behavior, and Ally came out to repeat the word to the family as we were eating dinner. I ordered everyone to stop laughing, but then all 3 of them started repeating it, trying to get laughs! It was very embarrassing, but very funny!

Needless to say, they're all talking very well! All 3 know their colors and can identify many animals. They're doing pretty good with counting to ten, but don't have one-to-one correspondence yet... they have just memorized the order of numbers and how it sounds. They love love love to sing. They love to sing their ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me and Baa Baa Black Sheep. They still love to be read to, and like to sit and pretend to read books to themselves. They also love to rip up books, which they get in trouble for often.

The girls love to swim in the new pool, although we've only done it a few times (It is A LOT of work)! They're fearless (which is a little scary).... they don't mind to get their faces wet and blow in the water and they love to jump off the edge to mommy or daddy, although I've decided to put an end to that for now, for many reasons - 1) they don't know how far to jump out to avoid injury (we had a close call with Ally bonking her head on the side and 2) It's probably not a good habit to encourage, just in case they don't understand it's only to be done if we're standing right there. It's been too hot this summer to play outside much, but I talk to them all the time about only going into the pool if mommy or daddy are in there and only if they have their swimsuits on. It's looking like the fence isn't going to happen until Spring, so we're still keeping everything under lock down and careful supervision.

They are all getting much easier to tote around now, because they can climb up into the van and into their seats. They can't buckle themselves in yet, but that'll be helpful one day!

Some of their favorite games right now: They love to play a game we call "tiger", where they walk around on all fours and roar at everyone. They like to "get" each other and the others run and jump up on the couches to escape the tiger. Daddy started the tiger game, but now the girls play with each other, even when daddy's at work. They've also started playing follow the leader all over the house. It's so cute to watch them and they sing, "follow the leader, follow the leader" as they go. They also love to climb in boxes or bins, whenever they can... here's a pic of us having some diaper box derbies earlier this month:



They love to play "horsey" with daddy and ride on his back. Though they usually take turns, the other day, we doubled up, since Andi Mae (and her mommy and daddy) were over for dinner:

They get into trouble the most for: messing with doors (opening and shutting them), ripping books, climbing things, or taking their clothes or diapers off. They also get in trouble for getting a hold of my things when I'm out of the room, like my cell phone. Yesterday, they called their daddy and talked to him for a minute or two before I realized he was on the phone!

We took the girls for their 2 year check-up a few weeks ago, and they're still right on track and doing great!
Here was their Length and weight:
Izzy: 33" (25th percentile), 24.10 lbs. (25th percentile)
Abby: 33" (25th percentile), 23lbs .6 oz (9th percentile)
Ally: 34.5 " (70th percentile), 25 lbs. .1 oz (30th percentile)

As you can see, they're all a little underweight than average, but nothing to be concerned about. They eat very well, for the most part. Abby eats anything and everything and look how small she is!

For the Dr's appointment, I drove the girls to Tulsa by myself and met Matt at his office. They went up to his work for everyone to see, then he helped me take them to the Dr. I could've had help taking them to the Dr, but sometimes I find satisfaction in doing these things myself, like a normal mom... without having to ask for help all the time. Besides, Matt can take time off of work, and he enjoys doing things like this... he's a very hands-on kind of daddy. Here's a pic of Ally and Izzy in the office next to Matt's... they got right to work!



With the new house, and each girl having their own room, comes a new bedtime routine. After picking up all the toys we rotate which girl gets put in bed first. The others come along with us and tuck them in. I always say, "I'll be back for prayers", and go tuck the other ones in. Then come back and do prayers with each one. (More on that in a minute). Well, the girls love to pretend they're the mommy, so now, each night, they say, "I'll be back a prayers!" along with me, as they tuck their sisters in... it's really cute. They're still in their cribs, because it's still working for us at this point, and we stick with whatever works, until it doesn't work anymore.

Here's a little about each baby...


IZZY

Izzy is doing really well. She's still a bit ornery, but I find she goes through phases... a bit mischievous at times, but a really good little girl for the most part. When she prays at night, she repeats me as I go through the people we thank God for... Izzy always repeats everything really fast, then takes forever with her own "unscripted" part of the prayer... praying for everyones' boo boos and including people she's only met a few times, like our realtor! Izzy is definitely the best about cleaning up toys and following directions during clean up time. She's the WORST about taking her pants and diaper off, and still has to sleep in zip-up jammies (in the middle of 105 degree heat) because she won't stop taking her diaper off when she's supposed to be sleeping! She also has the funniest hair! Matt says it's like troll hair....you know, the kind where you can run your fingers through it and stays up! It's like cotton! Here's a pic of the hair:

One more thing about Izzer... anytime I ask her something that requires a confirmation, her favorite way to answer is, "Yep!" Sometimes, she'll even add in a "mmm hmm, yep!" I love her spunk... always has a little bounce in her step and so cute!



ABBY

Abby: Still my lil doe... sometimes I even call her my lil hoot owl, because she still kind of coos in her bed or when we're cuddling. She is definitely still a little cuddle bug. She would probably spend all day on my lap , if I'd let her. She's talking a lot, but is probably the hardest to understand, and I'm not sure it's not related to her hearing or tubes in her ears. When she says her prayers, she's so sweet. I always have them ask God to keep them "safe and healthy" and she'll say, "keep me fafe and felfy". Every time she does it, Matt and I can't help but giggle a little. If you ask me to sum up Abby with one word, it would be "sweet". She's such a little sweet girl. She still loves her Srog, and has to have him all the time (though I don't let her take him in public places). She has a certain way she always holds srog when she's cuddling him: She puts his arm up under her nose (like she's smelling it), and keeps her pointer finger in her mouth. This has been the same hold for a long long time. Here's a pic of it:


We had to give Srog a bath the other day, and it was a very big ordeal that everyone had to get involved with... I took a pic of the commotion:


Abby has a tendency to be a little whiney, which can grate on the nerves every now and again, so we've been working on trying to use a big girl voice when she needs something.


ALLY


Ally: If I had to use one word to sum up Ally, it would be: Bossy! My mom calls her "sarge". The other day, she was bossing me around, and I said, :you don't boss mommy!" and she said, "Daddy bosses mommy!" and I said, "No... nobody bosses mommy!" (Matt found this really funny, and said, "she obviously doesn't know how the world works  yet, does she?") She is a very clear talker... definitely the clearest of the three girls. When she prays, she is very thorough and clear. Ally doesn't cuddle me as often as she used to, but every now and then, she'll cuddle me real big while we rock and say, "I luz you, I luz you". It is the BEST feeling in the whole wide world! Sometimes, she'll even take my face between her hands and lay a big kiss on me! I live for moments like that! She is VERY smart and learns very quickly. (This may be why she's turning into such a boss and so ready to put everyone into their place). Ally is finally getting a little more hair, and we're even able to put the top of her hair into a little pony. Here's a pic:


We're having to work on Ally's attitude a bit, because she can definitely be difficult at times. Matt says she sounds like a ppterodactyl in the other room screeching at sisters for taking a toy or getting in her way. She's definitely very stubborn. During prayers, I have her pray that God helps her attitude be good, and that Mommy doesn't go crazy...


This is all I have for now... we're supposed to get professional pics done tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll be uploading them soon!