Happy Birthday Grandma Williams!

Happy Birthday Grandma Williams! You would have been "89" years old (born in 1910). We miss you! Every time I "smack their little bottoms" I think of you and how much they would have loved to go over to your house. I mean who wouldn't with an endless supply of ham, cheese, milk and cookies (just to mention a few). And don't even get me started on your fried potatoes or chocolate pie - no one makes them like you!

2 Years ago - 96th Birthday

Thanks for taking care of Claire for us. We miss you!

Our first playdate!!

Hey everyone! This is Alex, Logan and Nick again. It's been a while since mom has let us post to the blog. She says too much computer time for babies our age is not good. We really just think she and dad want to keep the computers to themselves... but we have to share all our toys. Oh well, our toys are way cooler and fit in our mouths better. The computer screen just gets harder to see when we slobber all over it.

Speaking of toys and playing... we had our first playdate yesterday! Mom and dad took us over to meet the Schirano triplets - James, Cameron and Ella. They are a little older than us - I think mom said they were 11 months old today. Not sure what 11 is, grandpa only counts to 5 with us and Leap Frog Lily only goes to 10. Guess 11 is really old! Anyway... there were girls!!! James was pretty cool too - he was crawling all over and even walking with help - way more advanced than us. But we've never seen girls our age before. And was it just me or did they look just alike?! It wasn't just you, but we should let Alex take it from here. Logan and I (Nick) got so excited before we went that by the time we got there, we needed to nap!

Yeah, you two were awake for a while, but then I was playing with all the new toys, turned around and you were both back in the carriers asleep. And they had such cool toys! Personally, I went for the electronics - dvd player, sound system.

Mom didn't let me play with it for long so I rolled over and found a really cool ball that rolls around - on it's own! It's just like the one mom had in the basement and brought up for us to play with later that day - she was hiding it from us. Anyway, I had a really great time haning out with even more babies. Their mom got some really cool pictures of us playing. I saw them on her blog (while you two were napping again this afternoon - you sure do sleep a lot!). You'll have to stay awake longer next time so we can get a picture of all 6 of us (where the two of you aren't sleeping in the backround)!

All of this typing is making me tired. Maybe I should go join the other two for a nap. Bye everyone! Maybe I'll dream of future playdates... It would be really cool to play with more triplets again! :-)

Is it really June already?!

I may be biased, but our babies are so cute! I found it easier yesterday to update the pictures than to write a blog entry. But as I was going through all the pics, I remembered how fun our past couple of weeks has been... fun but very busy!

The baptisms on Mother's Day went very well... kinda. The boys did great during church and the baptisms were after mass. They started out good, but then Alex started getting a little fussy. I tried to keep him entertained, but he was just so tired. Everyone did well with the water on their heads. Sydney looked a little concerned at first, but came out smiling. Nick jerked his head at the last minute and got it in his face (which didn't make him happy) but the other two just kinda laughed. They all like to take baths, so I wasn't too worried. Unfortunately, the tired/fussy thing became contagious. It was nap time after all. So instead of getting some good family pictures with the boys and their godparents, etc., we packed up and headed over to my mom's house for a potluck. Mom and Dad and Brandon had put up the tent for us to eat under. Of course, Mother Nature wasn't having a happy Mother's Day in Decatur. We got to the house and the tent had blown over (it lasted all night and was fine when they left for church). We moved everything into the garage and everyone (I hope) had a good time. Sydney changed out of her cute dress and put on a new shirt announcing that she is a Big Sister! Angela is due right around Christmas.

Adam's sister, April, and her husband, Jon, came back for the baptism. While they were here, they got to spend some time with the boys. I think it was Jon's first time feeding a baby, but he did very well.

The boys are getting better at moving to wherever they want to go. They're still rolling or scooting, no crawling yet. They are also getting much better at sitting up by themselves. Nick has been able to for a while and sits up for a long time. He prefers this to laying down, although he also likes you to give him his toys so he doesn't have to reach too far. Alex just started this weekend to sit up for longer periods by himself. Logan isn't far behind, but he likes to fall back onto you - he thinks it a game! It's so awesome to hear them laugh! Not just giggle, but gut-busting laughing.

I am happy to report that they are eating much better than in the beginning. I can't say that they have any real favorites. They'll eat anything. They may make a horrible face for the first few bites, but then they just open up and gobble down. Alex still prefers the bottle first (because he can eat it faster - there is no "too fast" for Alex). Logan still prefers food to the bottle. Nick could go either way depending on the day. We have been through all the 1st foods and are about to move onto the next stage. We tried pear juice a week or so ago from sippy cups. Didn't go so well - no one was interested. We'll try again later.

The boys love to be outside - at least for now when it's not too hot. They enjoy going for walks around the neighborhood. They also really like the swings at the park. There is a small park a block away. It will be very nice when they're older. Now they mainly just swing. We can put two in one swing - back to back. I bought a baby swing for our swing set at the Mothers of Multiples garage sale this spring. I finally put it up this weekend. It is a single swing (so we have to take turns), but they really enjoy it. I need to find one that fits two babies and we'll be set! We did find that they have mommy's fair skin. Keep them out too long and their pasty white skin turns a bright red!

Okay... I gotta go and get Adam something for his birthday/father's day. Don't forget to enjoy the new pics :)

New Pictures

I know... it has been forever since I've updated the blog. Well, tonight is still not the night! But I did update the slide show in the right hand column of the blog with new pictures and I'm sure that's really what people would rather see anyway! So, check them out.

One other quick note... We unofficially weighed the boys this week before their baths. Alex and Nick are coming in around 20 lbs and Logan is around 16.5 lbs. Needless to say, they are eating well and growing just fine.

I promise I'll post more soon. For now, enjoy the pics!

7 Months Old

The boys are 7 months old. That's so hard to believe! Each day they are growing and doing new things. They have added new foods to their diets. First cereal, then vegetables. Alex and Logan will eat just about anything although they prefer the non-green foods. Nick still isn't very interested in spoon food, unless it's sweet potatoes (or tonight he started out good with the squash, but then stopped).

They are also more mobile! Gone are the good ol' days when we could set them down, turn around and back again and they were still in the same spot. Now they love to squirm out of their chairs and roll all over. They're even starting to crawl, although it's still more of a scoot than a full blown crawl.


They have also found their voices more. When they wake up in the morning, they usually lay in bed for a while and play/talk to themselves. We can hear their happy squeals and chatter over the monitor. It's so cute. As the day goes on, they talk more and more. And of course there's the screeches. Logan started it and still holds the record for highest pitch and greatest volume. But he's taught his brothers the fine skill of screeching. Our ear drums have already been damaged, but I feel bad for our neighbors or people walking past the house. With some of the nicer weather, we've had the windows open. You can hear our high-pitch choir just as loudly outside! The good news is, they tend to tucker themselves out pretty well to. In fact, they can sleep anywhere sometimes!

Alex - asleep in the activity center

Nick - loves to sleep with something over his face

Logan - asleep on dad - that can't be comfy!

Speaking of sleep... They are all doing well at sleeping through the night. We put them to bed between 9 and 9:30 and they usually go to sleep once they're in bed. Then they start to wake up between 6:00 and 7:00 am. They usually will play for a little while and maybe even take a short nap before breakfast between 8:00 and 9:00. Did you notice what was missing??? No more 4 am feedings!!! They get 3 meals with formula and cereal/veggies and then a bottle before bed... and we both get an extra hour of sleep! So far, so good. Although they have been waking up a few times during the night wanting their pacifiers. But still... no 4 am feeding!

We had the boys baptized this last weekend. They were baptized along with their cousin Sydney. If anyone took pictures... I'd love to see them! We were a little too busy with the boys and didn't get any pictures... oops. I'll post more soon about our Mother's day festivities and the baptisms. For now, it's time to go to bed.

One last note/update... Congrats go out to my sister and brother-in-law. They're expecting baby number two this December. Sydney will be a big sister! Yay... We're all happy for you!

Random Stories: How do you tell them apart?

We get this question a lot, so I thought I’d address it here. It was actually a major concern for me before they were born.

At first it was difficult. And even now, I'll sometimes call one by another's name. I know who the kid is, but for some reason, I say something different.

People have mentioned that the boys look a lot alike in the pictures we post. In the pics they do all look alike. Especially if they have their bodies covered and/or anything on their heads and/or it’s at a distance.

For probably the first month, we kept their hospital bracelets on them. It was especially a problem with Alex & Logan because they are most likely twins. Nick has always been easy to distinguish because he has a lot of hair and it’s darker than Alex & Logan.

I think we also tracked them by clothing as well in the early days. When we changed them in to a new outfit, we just kind of subconsciously processed that Alex was in the blue, Nick was in the white, etc. etc.

The first conscious distinction we were able to make between them was their cries. About a month or two after they came home, Tiffany & I could tell who was crying from across the house easier than we could identify them by sight. For example, Nick has kind of a guttural cry. Alex's is preceded by a kind of cough like thing. And Logan's tends to be quieter but protracted.

Now, they simply look different enough (again pics kind of distort this if they have a lot of clothing on). Nick still has his dark hair & sly smile. Logan is the lightest in weight and smiles the most. And Alex is our pudgy baby (we like to say "healthy”). Additionally, their personalities and voices are different. Each of them has their own little mannerisms.

It’s very strange, but I think a lot of the identification happens on an unconscious level, esp. at first. You just kind of know. Granted both Tiffany & I are wrong on occasion, but that also becomes a bit of a fun guessing game. The phenomenon of "you just kind of know" is very odd. I used to ask parents about this before we had kids and never understood it. But I think it’s largely true. You pick up on all kinds of things that you don't process consciously (and some you do) that allow you to "just know" who is who.

From Horrible to Great!

What a week! Last Monday the boys got their 6 month immunization shots. We usually ask someone to come up and help us watch the boys that night, just in case they're fussy. So far, they've done great... Until this time, when we figured we didn't need help. WRONG!!! All of the boys did great getting their shots. They scream while it happens, but then calm down quickly. It helps that I typically go during nap time, so they're tired and go back to sleep after it's done. They did well for the first part of the night. We didn't feed them cereal - one less trauma for the day. But then it began. First one would scream and then a brother would join him. We'd get 2 of them calmed down and almost asleep (they were fighting sleep on top of everything) and the 3rd would start screaming. Notice I'm not saying crying... I'm saying screaming. Baby number three would wake up baby 1 - more screaming... you get the point.

Finally we got them all somewhat calm and it was bath time. After baths (trying to calm them from the traumatic day), we were back to all 3 babies were crying again. Baby Einstein to the rescue!!! No matter what mood they're in, put them in front of the TV - specifically Baby Einstein DVDs - and they're distracted/content. Sound like anyone you know (um... me)?! We save this as our last reserve. Eventually they all calmed down enough to go to sleep. Woo... glad that was over!

To make a long story short (to late), the rest of the week they got better each day. They were still overly fussy at night (oddly enough, right around bed time). They're back to their normal selves now which is a relief. Hard to believe that happened only a week ago... it was a long week!

But on to happier news... Food! We started them on cereal a few weeks ago and they've had Rice, Oatmeal and Barley. No one seemed to have much of a preference between the different flavors. We started giving them peas this week (starting with veggies before fruit) and they seem to like it well enough. It all depends on when you get them. If they're in the mood, they'll eat great. When I say they, I mean Alex and Logan. Alex will even grab for the spoon or your hand and push it in faster. Assuming he's not starving. If you get to them when they're starving, they need a bottle first, then they'll think about the spoon thing. Nick... another story. He really doesn't like the spoon feeding. Doesn't matter what's on it. Granted, I mention that to our friends who were over visiting and he ate almost the whole thing while they watched. Maybe 1 to 2 times a week, he'll eat well. Otherwise, just give him the bottle ... or else! I even tried carrots tonight when he didn't want the peas. Didn't work any better. The good news is Logan (who typically eats less than his brothers - and weighs less) does great with cereal or peas. I just have to say WHATEVER! The picture below was from a dinning experience that left everyone exhausted (all 5 of us)! Well, like I said, Horrible to Great. Shots bring out horrible babies (spitting out green peas). Good thing they will be exorcised before the baptisms next weekend! Nice weather and a week to heal, the boys are doing great again. Went for a walk with them tonight and they came back a little tuckered out! Aren't they so adorable when they're asleep?!

Well, I should get some sleep. I'll post more later about their new found mobility skills and how unprepared mommy and daddy are for it!