Three Little Beetles: April 2013

If my frequency (or lack) of updates is a barometer for how busy our household has become, I would say it is pretty darn accurate! The last couple months have brought lots of changes for our three little ones (unfortunately for mom and dad one of those changes does not include more sleep!)

Harper and Sam are becoming more mobile by the day. Sam is the busier of the duo. The old jump-a-roo is taking a beating from our little guy. You can hear him banging around in that thing from all over the house. He seems to understand what he is doing as well. I can ask him to jump and he gets a big smile on his face and proudly takes on my challenge. He can quickly cover the living room by rolling and scooting around in a matter of seconds. He is not crawling quite yet but I predict that will happen any day now. In the last week or so he has started to push himself up onto hands and knees. If he catches me watching him he gives me one of his signature bashful smiles and then quickly splays back out onto his belly. Harper is starting to do a lot more rolling but is more content to hang out on her back and hold toys above her face. I think she is realizing that she needs to act quickly if she wants to get first dibs on the favorite toys, so she is starting to scooch herself around to keep up with little brother. Both babies are sitting up proud and strong, although they aren't that great at bracing themselves from the inevitable falls that happen when they become captivated by the previously mentioned favorite toys. The increased mobility is making my job as paparazzi more difficult to catch them both in the same shot, but I do my best.

For how active these guys are during the day you would think they would need a bit more sleep (or maybe that's me...yup, pretty sure it's me who needs more sleep). Harper and Sam treated us to the coveted "sleeping through the night" at around four months or so. We aren't sure what happened (maybe it's because she thinks I am so awesome that she needs to just check in a couple times each night) but that whole sleeping through the night thing just isn't happening for Harper anymore (which means it isn't happening for her brother either). Napping has also been a struggle for the last couple months, making for one worn out mama. I am hoping some fresh air will help encourage more restful sleep (once spring finally decides to make an appearance in MN).

Our little pair had their six month check up mid March. My mom accompanied me to the visit (because hey, two times the shots means two times the crying, means two times the snuggles, right?) My mom and I saw a very "twin moment" at this visit. Harper had her immunizations first. My mom had her pretty well settled down when Sam let out his own shot induced blood curdling scream. As soon as Sam started crying, Harper started up again almost worse than when she received her own shots. It was almost as though she felt the pain all over again when Sam started crying. Very sweet but hard on mom and grandma.

The babies pediatrician is thrilled with their development (by the way Sam graduated from his helmet around this time as well and has a beautiful round little head!), as well as their weight gain. While the babies weren't born all that early for multiples, they were quite small for their gestational age. I'm proud to say they are both now on the regular growth curve (the one that is not adjusted for premies). Sammie clocked in at 15 lbs 12 oz and 26.2 inches, which is right around the 12th percentile. Harper came in at 14 lbs 8 oz and 25.2 inches long, which is about the 13th percentile. Both babies still love the mama milk. And for having as many issues as I did getting started breastfeeding two tiny babies while recovering from quite the birth, I am proud to say we're still going strong seven months in. Sam is digging the baby food and Harper is coming around to it as well.

Bennie continues to be a favorite for both Harper and Sam. In fact I am pretty sure he is their favorite person in the world. Harper will sometimes just look at Ben and start cracking up. If they are fussy he can cheer them up in no time. Our oldest Beetle is currently fascinated with all things pirates and ninjas. We took a trip to the Wild Rumpus bookstore this week and he walked right up to the clerk and asked where her pirates books were located (after checking out the free roaming chicken and caged chinchillas, of course). My little animal lover had quite the story to tell after a mallard pair came back to visit us. Last year at this time they were walking right up to our front stoop for their morning breakfast of Chex cereal and water. Unfortunately this year they came back and Mother Nature has been a little crazy. The mama duck laid an egg in our back yard but a snow storm came shortly after and the duck parents haven't been back. Ben still thought it was pretty neat and we're all hoping they come back for a visit once it warms up. He's getting ready to wrap up his last year in preschool and was so proud of his graduation announcement that came home in his binder. He's starting to share a little bit of worries about heading off to kindergarten in the fall, but I know he'll settle in well, especially since one of his neighbor buddies will be at the same school. I should also note that Ben has encouraged us to get our basement cleared out (for some reason this has been pretty low on the priority list lately). One night he selected "cleaning the basement" as his bedtime activity...I think he is ready for another home improvement project. His other favorite activities include living room dance parties with mom and dad (I think we might provide some pretty good entertainment for the cars driving by our home around 7:30 or so) and painting his lemonade stand (our little entrepreneur in the making is already contemplating what other drinks he can sell "in case all the peoples don't like lemonade"). Oh and how can I forget that the entire month of March was dedicated to designing and setting leprechaun traps (which included a fair amount of YouTube research). I am pretty sure St. Patrick's day is Ben's new favorite holiday (which meant Chris and I spent St. Patrick's eve dying our backyard snow green and leaving little green hats near the many traps that were set up in our kitchen and living room!)

And it wouldn't be an update without some new pictures. I think I need to get my hands on one of those fancy cameras that can take like 60 pictures in a minute or I might never catch these busy kiddos of mine in action!