Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. Brian came hom from work early on Friday, so we went out to a quick dinner then went and played outside at Antelope Park. They have a great toddler playset and some swings. We spent quite a while there, the weather was gorgeous. Xander got bit by another child, but not too bad. He was OK. Saturday, the kids spent all afternoon, night and half of Sunday with Dale and Ellen. They had a good time and mom and dad did some relaxing and went to dinner. Monday we tried to go to the park again, but didn't stay long. Xander fell off a slide, Grace fell and bit her lip and was bleeding and we got rained on. It wasn't so much fun. Monday evening grandma and grandpa Hoefs came over and brought them the lawn chairs you see in the picture. They love them! It is great fun to get in and out. Will plays his "up and down" game in it. They were relaxing, having a beverage while we ate dinner. Not much else to report. Will is walking almost full time now! And, he's pretty good. He can bend down and pick up things and almost stand up on his own. He's getting pretty good at navigating uneven surfaces outside, like the grass and gravel at the park. We're so glad he's finally mobile! We've started letting them use spoons to eat. So far, OK. Grace is pretty good, but the boys make a pretty big mess. We've only tried mashed potatoes, something thick, but we'll move on soon to things like oatmeal and yogurt. It is definitely interesting with all three doing it at the same time. Out kitchen floor will never be the same after these three! More next Monday!

Finally!

We finally have walking! Will has finally decided that is the way to go. He's not walking full time, but he's getting there. He walks between objects and people, and is spontaneously going between things that he never did before. We're elated! It's so nice to have a little more mobility and flexibility. We've been taking walks where they are doing the walking, and they seem to like it. Xander wanders everywhere, especially towards our next door neighbor's dog behind the fence. Not much else has been going on lately. We've been going on a lot of outings, errands, playing in the park, we even took them to Valentino's for dinner. We met some new neighbors the other day, and they have two great swingsets in their backyard that the kids enjoyed playing on. Their son is a little bit older, but hopefully will be a good playmate for the boys. Will has started saying "dog" but it comes out something like "guh". He and Xander are always looking for Tanner the aforementioned next door dog. They like him, but Grace cries when he barks. They also play a new game of "up and down" where they sit on the edge of something and stand up/sit down, trying to say "up" or "down". They usually get it right, too. They did this, all three of them, on the edge of the treadmill for about 10 minutes this afternoon. Great fun!

The bottom picture is Xander and Grace singing a verse of "If You're Happy and You Know It". It's the "shout hooray" verse. That's their favorite part. I included that picture of Grace because it was the first time she left a bow in her hair. I thought it was cute. The pictures of the boys are them on the move. Have a good week everyone!

16 months old and Happy Mother's Day

Hi all. Tuesday marked our 16 month birthday and Sunday was mommy's second mother's day. It was a rather uneventful week. We played outside lots, swam in the pool, got stuck in some baskets (although one was happy about it, one was not, see above pictures). On Mother's Day, we went to church, then to brunch with the Hoefs at Firethorn. Very yummy and the triplets were very well behaved. Home for a nap, then to the Niebuhrs for dinner. We played a little with one set of twin cousins we have. They are a little younger than us, but very fun.

We have a couple new words this week. They all say something that is supposed to be cracker but sounds more like "quack-k". We call their pacifiers "plugs" and they also try to say that, but it sounds more like "gak". The point is that they're trying, though. On a good day, Xander has also mastered the horse sound. When we were at Kara and Wes' house on Saturday, Jack, their black lab, was sitting in the living room and panting in the heat. Will started imitating him and panting. The next morning, we asked Will "what does a dog do? " he started panting. It was pretty funny. He also really liked their cats. He was touching them and grabbing their tails. An animal lover maybe? Grace has been trying to say "shoes" and "juice" but they both come out the same kind of like "sss". I know what she means in context. When she wants shoes, she lifts up her feet and legs. When she wants juice, she signs please, says "sss" and holds out her hands. You can see the bite mark on Grace's arm in the top picture. That was courtesy of Xander. I'm afraid we haven't gotten rid of the biting, and if he's tired or mad, he'll do it a lot. Anyone have advice about this one? Hopefully next week I'll be able to report that Will is walking more. He is quite capable of walking on his own, he just doesn't. He needs a little motivation, but he is starting to do it more. He thinks it's funny to walk and let go of things. I hope he'll figure out soon that it's faster and more fun to be upright. I'll keep you posted. More next week.

Blue, green and pink

Since I don't have a lot of news to report this week, I thought I would post some pictures I've been taking lately of how we have color coordinated a lot of things. Will is blue. Xander is Green and Grace is pink. We started out with coordinating their little baby food dishes to keep it straight and to know how much each one ate. When we started tippy cups, it was easier to get color coordinated ones to know which one belonged to which kids, and then it just spread from there. We have clothes, pajamas, toys, and even toothbrushes color coordinated. The only exceptions are our bath towels and pacifiers. They're still color coordinated, just not in the blue, green, pink scheme. They know which is which, too. Especially with their cups, bowls and toothbrushes. They actually pick out their own cup from a pile on the floor. Pretty good!

As I said before, our news isn't much this week. It's been a pretty normal week. Will had the most exciting week. He is walking very well, and can walk a great distance, but he won't walk unless it's to a person. He doesn't have either the motivation or courage to walk from object to object (like a chair or couch). He'll only walk between people. When he does walk, he'll walk across the room. But, I think what's holding him back now is himself. He can do it if he wants to. Hopefully he'll want to sometime soon. Xander is now walking full time. He's much better at walking, he only needs to learn how to stand up in the middle of the floor. No new words or animal sounds this week. Will's other news is that he fell on Friday night, scraped up his chin, got a fat lip and chipped his front tooth. He's OK though, and you can't really tell about the tooth. We'll probably just leave it until it falls out. They all are getting molars. Will has two upper, Xander and Grace each have one lower. Pretty neat. That's all for now.

Swimming for the first time this year

Since it was almost 90 degrees on Monday, I broke out the little swimming pool, blew it up and we played in it for a while during the afternoon. They all jumped right into the water. I think Xander was a little cold, because then he preferred to stay on the grass and play with toys. Will sat in the water, splashed and played with toys. Grace, on the other hand, was in and out and jumping and splashing and squeaking. She loved it! I think the boys will like it more as we do it more. They always take a little longer to warm up to things than Grace does.

No real other news here. We're all just pretty much the same. Will took a trip back to the doctor on Thursday for 2 weeks of coughing and wheezing. He was on steroids (done now) and it's helped. No more nebulizers or anything. His walking is coming along, too. He's getting a little more brave to let go and be free standing. He loves to walk, he pushes the walking toy all over the house. He'll be walking around in no time! Xander is getting better at walking, almost full time now. Still falls once in a while. He tries to drink and walk like Grace does and he can't. Grace can say "duck" now. The boys just call it a "quack". And, they all will do a monkey sound "ee, ee, ee". If you say (to no one in particular) "Are you a monkey? " you will get three monkey sounds from around the house. Xander also knows cat and goat now.

I have another friend who needs your prayers this week. A good friend of mine, Susan Otte, (I taught with her at Zeman) and her husband John are in need of all the prayers you can muster. Their 4 month old daughter Quinn is having open heart surgery (on Friday morning) for a congenital heart defect. It is rare and very serious, but they think she is going to make it. However, after this surgery, she is going to have a long road of recovery ahead of her. Please pray for them that the surgery goes well and the recover is speedy and painless. Thank you all. I know they appreciate the thoughts and prayers. More next week.