Majors - The Furry Triplet???

Many of you know that Eric and I's "first born" is our 4 year old daschund, Majors (aka Sir). When we were getting ready to bring the kids home from the NICU, we were worried about what kind of a reception they would get. Would he be jealous? Would he leave "presents" in their room? Would he be scared of them?

Well at first he just stared at them from afar. Sometimes when we would be feeding them a bottle, he would try to get in our lap too. Over the last couple of months, he and the babies have gotten more and more interested in each other. Their faces absolutely light up when they hear Majors walk into the room. They love to sit and pat him and grab at his many fat folds. He has been really good natured about it too. We will spend a couple of hours each day on a couple of blankets with their toys. Majors just pulls Chewy and Scooby onto them too. It was put there for him too, right? He will even get one of his chew toys and plop it in front of them and wait for them to throw it. Maybe next month, Majors! When I am putting the babies down, he will lay under Ethan's crib and peek his head out. I have accidently shut him in there a few times. I think that suits him just fine though.

So when Ethan and Ella get into their big boy and big girl beds, I have a feeling our bed will be a little more roomy. And that suits us just fine : )

First Teeth, First Big Roadtrip, and First Father's Day!

We have had a big week! Ethan and Ella have been working HARD on 2 bottom teeth each. People have been telling me for months that they were teething because they were drooling so much. Well the day is finally here! And now Ethan is drooling double time. I swear the kids drools at least a gallon a day! And he thinks spit bubbles are hilarious - particularly after he gets some Oragel : )

We went on our first big roadtrip to Macon, GA. We went to go see a friend from college, his wife and his 16 month old boy twins. We left Thursday night so we could drive through the night so the babies would sleep. Nice theory and it worked for the most part. I am so proud of them. They did really well even though they were sleeping in a strange place in Pack N Plays. The room we stayed in had room darkening shades and a box fan. I am adding those to my list of "must haves" for parents (along with Jumperoos, Baby Einstein and Linkadoos) Eric went to Home Depot to get them as soon as we got home yesterday. They napped so much better! Apparently, we just have to trick them into thinking it is night time and have some really loud white noise! The only bad part about the trip was the ENTIRE trip home. It was about 6 hours and Ethan cried/whined/wimpered about 80% of the trip home. The only time he wouldn't cry was when I was singing along with their Baby Counting Pal toy (oh add that to the list too) Well Mama can only do that so much..... But we got home ok and they went to bed at 6 last night. We weren't far behind!

It was neat (and a little scary) to watch the twin boys. I think I will have no problem dropping the other 5 pounds I would like to loose once they are mobile. I think I have no time to sit now!! They were EVERYWHERE. We have a ways to go before they are walking. They are getting closer to crawling though. Ethan can pretty much roll anywhere he wants to go. He also gets on his knees and rocks back and forth. Ella is perfectly content to lay on her back and stare at her hands or her Linkadoos. I can't blame her - they are aweful cute hands. She is very much the type that will watch Ethan struggle, learn from him, and then do it with no effort a couple of minutes later.

Since we spent most of the day on the road, Father's day wasn't as big as I wish it could have been. Eric is such a great father. I think he had it the hardest when I was pregnant. Do you know that he stayed with me almost every night in the hospital on a pleather pull out bed? Then after an awful night sleep, he had to go to work everyday while I laid around and watched TV. So Ella, Ethan and I worked on a very special Father's Day project for Eric. We made a wall hanging that had them spelling out "We Love Daddy." I took a picture of them each day holding a different letter, then spelled them all out in a 20 x 30 frame. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Mimi and Papa got moved in safely last week. They came over tonight for a belated Father's Day celebration. It was so nice to get to see them and know that we don't have to wait a month to see them again. Dad is leaving on Saturday to go to Ghent then Sydney. I imagine after a couple of stressful weeks of moving, he is anxious to leave the country and his house of boxes!

Baby Nap Bootcamp

So for the last couple of weeks, we have been having our "Baby Nap Bootcamp." We are very fortunate that Ethan and Ella have been sleeping through the night for a couple of months now. Napping is another story though.....

Prior to out bootcamp, I had been rocking them to sleep and praying that they sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time. I did this because it was what I had to do to get them to sleep and because I just liked the snuggle time we had together : ) I would put Ella in her Aquarium Swing and rock Ethan to sleep. Sometimes it would take 5 or more minutes to get Ethan to give up the fight and finally go to sleep. Then I would get Ella up and rock her for a little bit and lay her down. Sometimes Ethan would wake up then and we would do it all over again. It was pretty tiring.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and start laying them down while they were still awake and let them cry it out for a little bit. At first I would go back in a check on them periodically so they knew I hadn't deserted them. Ella did fantastic. She would grab her blankie, stick her thumb in her mouth, roll on her side and go to sleep. Ethan gave it a good fight. I swear I have never heard anyone who could cry SO pitiful. For the first few days, I think I cried as much as he did. They are now doing great (most of the time). They are sleeping twice as much during the day and also are sleeping much more soundly at night. In addition, they are also eating better because they are more well rested and don't fall asleep during their bottles. It has made an amazing difference in my day. I always have time for a shower and Eric always appreciates that! And during their longer afternoon nap, I can actually get some things accomplished around the house. And sometimes I can even relax. Last week I just floated around in their baby pool and read a book. I looked like a dork, but it was heaven and we have a tall fence : )

My 30th Birthday

So I would have posted this earlier, but I forgot my username and password! Guess I am already loosing my mind in my old age : )

Friday was my 30th birthday and it was my best yet. Eric took the day off work so we could all enjoy the day together. We all went to Cracker Barrell for breakfast. The babies were so good. They were perfectly content to sit in their car seats as we feasted on our 2,000 calorie breakfasts. They played with their Linkadoos and were happy as clams. When they went down for their afternoon naps, Eric stayed with them so I could go to the pool for a couple of hours. It was great. I went to the new "adult only" pool in the neighborhood since I figured it may be my only chance. I was slightly annoyed when I saw that "adult only" apparently means high school and college age girls home for the summer. Let me assure you - none of them were close to 30, had had any babies let alone 2, and probably have never even seen a stretchmark unless it was their mother's. But alas, I enjoyed my Parents magazine as they all read their Cosmo & Marie Clare and planned out their weekends. It was then that I officially felt old. That night Brent and Sarah (eric's parents - aka Nana and Papa) came to babysit the babies. Eric and I went to go see the new Pirates of the Carribean movie then out to Carrabba's for dinner. Eric told me at dinner he had one more surprise for my birthday. He had gotten us a room downtown so we could stay out the night and sleep in. I only had a momentary freak out because I would have kissed the babies a few dozen more times if I had known : ) We had a wonderful time. Eric was in charge of packing my back for the night, so I was slightly mismatched on Saturday morning, but not too too bad.