31 Weeks 2 Days

We passed an important milestone for me yesterday. Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer were born at 31 weeks 2 days, and today I’m 31 weeks 3 days, with no signs that I will be delivering any time soon. I have had some Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing serious. We have scheduled the c-section for about 39 weeks./
//
/My dad came this weekend for a conference and stayed until about 2 on Sunday. It was a nice visit. We went out in the yard to play for the first time since they started walking. It was a lot of fun. The kids weren’t interested when they could only crawl because that meant touching grass, and I wasn’t about to blanket the whole yard. They had a little trouble going up and down that little dip in our yard. Kimball’s feet got away from him and he wound up running/rolling. Of course, when Brinlee or Kimball fell, they couldn’t get back up because that would require touching the grass. THE GRASS!!! Can’t do that. So they would just sit there and wait for us to hold their hands while they got up. Sawyer did lots of laps around the yard holding just one of my dad’s hands. He won’t do that for more than a few steps. We were so proud of him. He did a great job, and he looked so pleased with himself. Of course, they didn’t want to come back in. But it was nap time, high sun, and we weren’t wearing any sunscreen. We stayed out for 30 minutes. /
//
/We went out again on Monday, and they got used to the grass. We sat in it for a while picking dandelions and feeling the difference between dead leaves and green leaves. Kimball and Brinlee practiced going up and down the little dip. Kimball charged head first into everything, and Brinlee took slow, controlled steps, gaining her balance before moving on. This time when they fell, they used their hands and touched the grass to get up./
//
/Brinlee and Kimball are walking all the time now and getting FAST! They have been practicing walking and carrying things, walking and drinking, all the fancy tricks. They all love to wear their shoes, mostly for the noise factor, I think. Kimball picks his feet up extra high like he’s marching so his shoes make more noise./
//
/Sawyer and Kimball have been talking up a storm. It seems they learn a new word every day. They say “more” when they want more food, ball, baby, up, shoes. We have been learning our letters. Sawyer recognizes the most letters, calling them out before the video does. He knows A, D, M, internet poker siteplay texas holdem,play money texas holdem,play texas holdem for funtexas hold em poker onlinefree texas holdem poker,free holdem line poker texas,free texas holdem poker downloadon line poker gamehold em pokertexas hold em oddstexas holdem tournament,texas holdem tournament strategy,atlantic city texas holdem tournamentpoker card gamefree online 7 card studfree online video poker gamelive online pokerfree video poker downloadinternet poker gameplay poker on line,play poker for fun,play pokermultiplayer pokeronline poker strategyonline texas hold emofficial texas holdem rulecard cheaper credit ukinstant approval credit card canada,instant credit card,application? card credit instant ?credit card free airline mile,airline miles credit card,airline card credit mile unitedbusiness credit card consolidationcredit card aaa debt consolidationcard credit debt debt negotiation reduction service,credit card debt reduction,card credit debt reduction strategy? ?card credit fraud reportbank card city credit national,national city bank secured credit cardcard credit mbna,mbna visa credit card,mbna credit card onlineapplication card credit mbnaorchard bank credit card servicesat t credit card onlinecard credit debt help onlinecard credit pal pay pluscalculator card consolidation credit loanonline credit card processing system,card credit event online processing registration,online credit card processingcard consolidation credit non profit,non profit credit card consolidationapproval card credit instant ukapplication card credit instantcard credit interest list lowcard credit debt management ukcard credit debt help xxasdfdiscover student credit carduk credit card applycredit card counseling services1st premier bank credit card,first premier bank secured credit card,bank card credit premiersmall business credit card applicationlowest interest rate credit cardstolen credit card numbersbad credit history visa card,bad credit rating visa card,bad credit visa cardamerica card credit mbna O, T. He repeats a lot of them. His favorite letter is O, and he says it a lot during the day. He likes to stand on the couch next to me while we watch the video, and every time a new letter comes on, he smacks my shoulder like, “Did you see that? Did you see a new letter came on?” When he says B, D, F, M, N, etc., he says Ba, Da, Fa, Ma, Na. I guess when we say them we exaggerate the sound so he can hear the difference and he hears an A at the end. Kimball’s favorite letter is C, and Brinlee’s favorite letter is H. They also repeat a lot of the letters. When Kimball says a real word or letter, he says it in this falsetto that only dogs and small children can hear. Brinlee has been signing a lot./
//
/This weekend when Kimball was in time out (hard to believe that any of my darling children would ever wind up in time out, but they occasionally do), he had been in there for about a minute when I heard, “All done!” /
//
/Sawyer likes to fake me out with his meal time all dones. He’ll say, “All done!” and start tugging on his sleeve (they wear long-sleeve bibs, and before they could say the words, they would start taking off their bibs to let me know). But when I go to take his tray, he starts gobbling food and holding onto his tray. I think he is enjoying the power and control. Kimball, on the other hand, will say he’s all done, then grab 2 handfuls of food “to go”. A few times last week, when we put Sawyer in his chair, he would shove as much food as he could in his mouth, packing his cheeks, letting it hang out of his mouth, and then try desperately to say, “All Done!!!!” He really did want down those times, so down he went. He would finish chewing on the ground and go about his business. I’m not sure what that was about, but we obliged him./
//
/Kimball can now get up on the couch by himself. It hasn’t occured to him to try a kitchen chair yet, thankfully. The changing table is behind one of our couches, and he can climb onto the couch, up over the top and onto the changing table. He hasn’t thought to climb the changing table directly yet, and I’m ok with that. /
//
/Our kids love their smoothies. We had been feeding them a yogurt/cottage cheese/fruit/vitamin concoction every morning to get a big does of dairy in them (which used to be a concern when they weren’t drinking a lot of milk, but that is no longer an issue) and a serving of fruit and their vitamins. That was such a pain. Once our kids started feeding themselves, our patience for spoon feeding them wained. Adam had the brilliant idea to just put it in a blender and a cup and let them feed themselves, and they love it! They nurse those smoothies until they are gone. I was worried they would be too thick for their cups, but they’re not./
//
/We officially switched to straw cups, which are supposed to be important for strengthening the mouth muscles and oral development. We’ve tried a few different ones looking for something that doesn’t leak. /
//
/Yesterday I let Kimball try going down the stairs by himself. When it’s 3 on 1, I can’t do that. They are all over the place. He did great! He approached the stairs and turned around backward and started inching down. I let Brinlee try too, and she did well, but quickly tired of it and decided she would rather go back up. I haven’t had a chance to let Sawyer try. We’ll need some practice before we get to go at it en masse./
//
/Now that we are walking and climbing, these kids are about to give me a heart attack in the kitchen. Kimball is into reaching up and feeling around on counters and trying to pull things off. Of course, we are working on teaching him not to do that and keeping things away from the edge, but the other day he came up behind me and tried to reach up on the stove while I was cookng. I stopped him, but if I hadn’t seen him, he would have touched a hot pan. That scared me to death! I could get one of those stove guards, but he’s not far off of figuring out that if he climbs on a kitchen chair he can reach anything. The other day I was pulling something out of a 500 degree oven, and out of nowhere, Brinlee was 18 inches away! Grinning and happy to help me! I nearly had a stroke! Just seconds before she was on the other end of the house. I”m afraid we are going to have to gate off the kitchen, which won’t be easy since the doorways are so wide. Teaching them no is not enough in this circumstance. One instance of not obeying could mean death or serious injuries and scarring. While we try to figure out how to do this, I’m cooking on the back burners, and trying to do as much as I can when they’re sleeping, but naps are so wonky right now, they rarely all sleep at the same time./
//
/Speaking of wonky naps, we are moving toward one nap a day, but not all at the same time. For a while Sawyer was entrenched in one nap a day, and quite enjoyed the only-child time while the other two slept. But lately he is napping in the morning with them. I’ll be glad when they are all on the same schedule again. Hopefully that happens before Quatro arrives./
//
/I blew kisses at the kids the other day, and that triggered our tribe of wild indians. They like to pat their mouths and yell. We all do it together in the car or riding through the mall. /
//
//
/Nursing their beloved smoothies/
//
//
/Daddy and Brinlee walking around the yard./
//
//
/Granddad walking around with Sawyer. Kimball touring the backyard./
//
//
/Brinlee woke up from her nap while we were eating ice cream. Daddy was nice enough to share. Let’s just say she liked it. It was her first ice cream (unless Adam has been sneaking it to them)./
//
//
/Kimball was making out with Brinlee’s baby big time! I had to get the picture from behind so he wouldn’t see me. As soon as the flash went off, he dropped his girl like a hot potato./
//
//
/Me at 31 weeks 1 day when I was pregnant with our trio. I had gained 75 pounds./
//
//
/Me at 31 weeks 3 days this time around. This time I was pretty excited to only gain a normal amount of weight. But I was only thinking of the 20 pounds I’ve put on so far. I forgot about the 65 pounds that is usually hanging around my legs, or on my lap, or in my arms. I guess at least the 65 pounds is detachable for part of the day./
//
//
/Sawyer saying OOOOOO to me. We say it together, and he thinks it’s so funny./
//
//
/And Brinlee saw the flash and wanted her picture taken too. She’s so cute, how can we not?