Believe It or Not...

The twins are about to start WALKING!  Ten months old!  

They have both totally mastered crawling...and are quite speedy.  They can go anywhere and everywhere they want to.  I wasn't quite ready for that!  It is definitely a rude-awakening to what my life holds over the next 2 years or so :)    Both girls will crawl over to something and pull themselves up to standing!  I cannot believe it!  Eve was not an early walker, and the twins were so preemie, that I just assumed they'd be hitting milestones later than Eve...but not true!  Can I possibly be ready for this??

I just moved Ellie from her crib in the office downstairs to the "Big Girl Room" upstairs with Clara and Eve.  She thinks she is BIG STUFF.  She never cries.  She is as content as she could be!! :)  If I have to go up there to console Clara or get on to Eve, I'll see Ellie's head pop up over the railing with the biggest grin you could imagine!  I think she's saying, "Look, mom!  I'm a big girl!  I'm not crying!!"  Love it!

I put the girls in the same crib and let them play.  It was precious.  I love to watch them interact!!

At their 9 mth check up, Ellie weighed 14lb 2oz, and Clara was 18lb 1oz (I checked Eve's baby book when we got home to find that she weighed 18 lb at her 9 mth check up).  They are doing phenomenal!  I am amazed at what God is continuing to do in their little lives.  We went back to the NICU clinic to be followed up on by the neonatologists.  Dr. Boedy was ASTONISHED at their progress.  Here is how he would approach their developmental milestones, "Now, Mrs. Lairsey...Is Ellie smiling?"  "Yes" "Oh, great!  Now, this is possible, but not probable:  Is Ellie trying to roll from her back to her belly?"  "Yes" "Oh great!  Now, this is not likely, but is she attempting to sit, unsupported?" At this point, I say, "Sir, she is pulling up!"  "Pulling up??  What do you mean?"  "I mean, she will crawl over to the couch or my hands and pull herself up to standing."  "Wow!!  Not only is she beyond her adjusted milestones (meaning 2 mths behind), she has caught up with her actual age milestones!  That is fantastic!  Now, is Clara smiling?"  :)  I just grin and tell him that Clara is doing everything Ellie is and about a week ahead.  He was amazed.  So am I.  But not at Clara and Ellie, at GOD.  He is the reason.

Ellie still has not cut a tooth, and I cant find one close to coming through.  Clara has her two on the bottom :)  When she smiles, she exaggerates her lower teeth as if to show them off so everyone knows they are there!!  Happy girl!  The girls both LOVE Cheerios, Puffs, Teething Biscuits, and baby food (Ellie is a little more picky than Clara, but either of them will pretty much eat anything).

I am IN LOVE with my family.  They are more than I could have ever hoped or asked for!!

 

I Know I'm Her Mother...

But my 3 year old is a genius!  I love watching her little mind work!  

Eve is starting to find her name EVErywhere... on billboard signs, on the credits of a movie, in words to songs, on her EVEnflo highchair...the list goes on.  She even points out that her name is in the title of "Eye Glass World" that we frequently pass.  Is she brilliant, or what??

A few days ago, I picked her up from school.  She reported that she was on "sad frog" that day.  I replied, "Eve, it makes mommy sad when you get on sad frog at school!"  To which she said, "What about when I get on happy frog?  How does that make you feel?  Does it make you.... jealous?"  :)  

I overheard Eric and Eve having a conversation about loving each other.  Eric told her that he loved her THIIIIIIISSSSSS much (and stretched out his arms as wide as he could).  Eve looked at him plainly and said, "You dont love ME, daddy!  You love food!"  THAT was hilarious!  :)

I have a rule about closing doors inside the house.  I dont like when Eve closes her bedroom door, our bathroom door, the laundry room door, etc.  It makes me nervous with the little girls (and soon to be Coleman) crawling around everywhere.  Eve knows about this rule, but she LOVES closing the doors (almost all the way, but a little bit cracked...just to get under my skin).  Getting ready for church one Sunday morning, I was drying my hair and she was playing with the little girls.  I guess the blow dryer was too loud for her, because she walked in and closed the door almost all the way.  I called her back and said, "Eve, we're not closing doors!  Mommy wants the doors open!"  She replied in a very ugly voice, "But you don't know that the right way works all the time in the bad time and the right way works when it's not fair!"  Not sure exactly what she was getting at with that comment, but the attitude behind it deserved the spanking it got :)

Back to the cuteness...Eve is OBSESSED with "hiding your eyes" for everything.  And she doesnt mean JUST to close your eyes!  She means COVER them with your hands!  She loves to "surprise" Eric and I with the outfit she is going to wear or the paper she colored or cut out at school.  She is precious!

  

Clara Can Finally Fight Back...

Eve ADORES her sisters!  ADORES them.  She loves to body-slam, plop down on top of, hug so tight she is going to strangle them, play with them.  Clara and Ellie have grown accustomed to her "rough love" and are starting to fight back... especially Clara.  I love it!  Here are a few pics I snapped mid-action!!

 tongue sticking out and all... this is INTENSE!

I love how Ellie is laughing in this one... as if to say, "Get her, Clara!  She deserves it!!" :)

You Might Be a Three-Year-Old Little Girl If...

1- You draw a picture of your mommy and it looks like this...

2 - You think that the "WifeSaver" sign says "Tangled" because they are written in the same font.

3 - You can get away with saying "I left my panties at Joe's" with no further explanation (meaning you left them in the bathroom at Monkey Joe's during a potty break)

4 - You say "your kisses hurt me" and daddy starts shaving more often and without complaint.

I LOVE THIS GIRL :)

A Boy After All of These Girls...

Eric and I are thrilled to be adding to our family again!  No, really...we are... no matter how many people give us their two cents by saying, "wow!  you've got your hands full" or "do you guys know what causes this?" or "good grief!  how many kids do you want?"  We feel TREMENDOUSLY blessed.

ESPECIALLY this go-around.  Eric is absolutely beside himself excited to be having a baby boy!  To be honest, it makes ME a bit nervous, but I know he will fit so great into our fun little life :)

Here are a few pictures of our precious Coleman Jude Lairsey (at least that's where we stand right now... but we're only 18 weeks pregnant... so the name is subject to change!)  The sonographer had to prove to me three times that it actually was a boy.  I really didn't believe her :)  This pregnancy has gone very smoothly.  Thank you, Jesus.
Eve can hardly wait to meet him.  She told me just a few nights ago that she was ready for him to come out.  I told her that God has to be ready for him to come out first.  She seemed to accept that.  I've also told her it was going to be after Christmas...at least that way, she has her mind set on a few things that will happen before he comes.
Coleman--we love you so much, and are so eager to meet you!  i cant wait to get to know your personality and your abilities.  we are going to love watching you grow up with your sisters.  keep growing strong and healthy!!

Ol' Eve-aroo

She is simply hilarious.  I laugh at her all day.  The way she'll remember phrases or words, the connections she'll make about things FAR OVER HER HEAD, and just her sense of making people laugh... it gets me EVERYTIME.

 

Conversations with Eve:  

At a restaurant one night, I pulled Ellie out of her carseat to burp her after her bottle.  Eve was in her own little world (where she frequently is).  She was talking to herself, coloring, laughing, etc.  It actually let Eric and I have a conversation or two.  :)  Ellie was watching Eve play and all of the sudden, Eve leans over to Ellie and in a quiet, but firm voice she says, "Ellie!  Don't go with the HUMANS!  I'll NEVER see you again!"  Ellie giggled and Eve went back to playing with her crayons.  Eric and I looked at each other, dumbfounded, and I said, "Eve, what are you talking about?  Where are the humans?"  She looked up at me like I was so silly and said, "You and daddy are the humans!"  To which I replied, "Well then, what are you?"  She proudly said, "I'm an Eve!"

Last night, she told Eric that she was going to grow up and marry him when God told her it was time.  

In the car, she will giggle and smile to get Clara and Ellie (whoever is sitting on the opposite side) to laugh.  Everytime she does it, she wants me to watch.  Typically, I just say, "I see, baby, you're so silly."  This afternoon, she called me out.  "Look with YOUR TWO EYES mommy!"  

Today, she looks at me and says, "Mommy, now that I've found you, can you make my one wish come true?"  I say, "What is your wish?"  She replies, "I want my own magic carpet."  

Unfortunately, her mouth is also what gets her into trouble the most!  SASSY.  Eve LOVES Mother's Day Out.  Her new teachers are Mrs. Hope and Mrs. Ann.  She is having a blast.  It is the third week of school, and she has been on the YELLOW FACE three times already!  When Eric asked the teacher what it was about, she recalled the three instances:

1-Eve was building with blocks during free-play time.  When the teachers called for the end of free-play time, Eve announced "No, I'm not ready to stop building yet."

2-Eve likes to sit in the middle of the circle during "circle time" and tell everyone what they are supposed to do.  After a few requests to return to her seat, Eve let them know that she didn't want to.

3-Eve likes to sit in a certain spot on the rug, and if someone takes that spot, she shoves them out of the way, telling them that is where SHE sits.

Last week, when Eve got in the van after going through car-line, I asked her how her day at school was.  With a grumpy face, and her arms crossed across her chest, she said "I'm not gonna tell you."  I was confused and said "what do you mean?  did you have a bad day?"  She replied, "I'm not gonna tell you that I got on yellow!"  Me: "Eve, why did you get on yellow?" Eve: "Because my teacher told me I couldn't stay on green.  I just wasn't sweet.  Mrs. Hope got mad at me."    

My Eve-aroo.  Strong, determined, and unafraid.  Jesus, temper her heart for you.

Today, Mrs. Hope brought her to the van and told me about her third yellow face.  I thanked her and we drove away.  Eve looked at me from the backseat and said, "are you sad about me, mommy?"  I told her I didn't like it when she didn't have a green face.  Then she said, "I'm sad too, mommy.  I dont like it when I can't stay on green either.  Clara's sad.  Ellie's sad.  We're all sad... Can I wear my Belle dress when I get home?"  She gets over things quickly :)

Here are a few pics from her first day of school this year.  

 going straight for the pink dress!

Thank you, Jesus, for my precious girl.  Help her, like me, to be more like you every day!  

8 Month Milestones

This has been a month of milestones for Clara and Ellie!  They are simply ADORABLE... and i grow more and more in love with them each day (as does Eve and Eric)!!
Both girls are successfully sitting up... unsupported!  This is really ahead of what I was planning for them :)  Who said they'd be developmentally delayed???  Taking pictures of them is so much fun now because they will laugh and giggle and coo at the camera.  Ellie tends to squish up her button nose and squint her eyes when smiling, while Clara stays wide-eyed with her big, slobbery grin!  They are looking more and more different to me these days.

My Three Princesses :)

In other news, the girls just started their first Mother's Day Out experience at First Baptist of Augusta.  They are doing great!  Eric gets them dressed and fed and to school every Tuesday and Thursday morning by 9am.  He does a great job.  He told me that the first day, the entire classroom full of babies was screaming for their moms.  Ours were perfectly content with their teachers.  Not sure what that means... either they haven't reached the separation anxiety phase yet, OR they are held by people other than Eric and me ALOT, so they're just used to it :)  We'll see as the year progresses.  This is a pic of the girls in the back of Eric's truck headed to school on the first day.

Clara has now sprouted two teeth.  Right on the bottom.  She is one big slobberer!  She absolutely LOVES to chew and bite on the foam letters/numbers we have around the house.  Her chin is always soaking wet and dripping...as is the collar around her shirt, if she isn't wearing a bib.  Ellie is a drooler too, but not near as bad.  Nothing has come through her gums yet, although I'm sure they will be popping out soon!  

Ellie was re-admitted to MCG three weeks ago with a partial bowel obstruction.  We weren't sure she was going to avoid surgery, but miraculously, she was!  Na-Ma came up to help me with everything that comes along with having of one of three children ages 3 and under in the hospital for 5 days.  It was a HUGE help!  While Ellie was in the hospital, she started saying "mamamama"!!!  It is usually in a moment of being pitiful and sad... but I'll take it!  She has been known to lay in the bed, mumbling, moaning, and whimpering...then all of the sudden, you'll hear it!  The best words on the planet :)  Ellie has also stumbled upon waving "bye-bye".  She will never do it on command, but occasionally, we'll see that hand tilt towards her face and she'll raise and lower her fingers.  It is precious.  The first time I noticed it was after her nurse had shoved that NG tube down her nose into her belly.  Ellie began waving "bye-bye" to her.. as if to say, "I'm done!  That's enough!  Go away!"  :)   

  

Clara isn't interested in saying "mamama", but has been caught saying "dadada" a few times.  She is definitely a daddy's girl.  Both girls light up when Daddy, Mommy, or Eve walk in the room.  I love our family!

Not only do both girls sit up un-supported...they will both scoot ALL AROUND THE ROOM.  I spread out a blanket in the middle of the floor with some toys, and when I walk away for a few minutes, they have both managed to get themselves to the corners of the room :)  We are definitely discussing ways to "barricade"  the living room when they actually start crawling!!  Our house is about to start jumping (as if it wasn't already :)).  

Adalyn came over for a playdate yesterday, and the girls had fun rolling around for a few minutes together.  Kristen took a few pics of the girls all together... it makes me glad that I dont have triplets!  How in the WORLD can ONE person get THREE babies to look, let alone smile, in the same direction??  

And I leave you with the 8 month pictures we had taken of the girls this past weekend.  They did FANTASTIC and I'm so glad we did it!  Clara and Ellie are growing up so fast :)  I'm so glad they're mine!