Two Aprils and an Adam

My mom always told me,”I hope you have one just like you!” Of course she only said it when I was being bad. Well, now I have two of me, and I like me a lot! After pulling out baby pictures, it has become obvious that Sawyer and Brinlee look just like me, and Kimball looks just like Adam. We have our own little clones. And we love it. How narcissistic is that?
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/Sawyer
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/Sawyer really enjoys touching and feeling things, and not just with his hands. He loves to rub his feet all over everything. Now that it’s warmer weather and we leave their feet bare, he gets to rub his piggies all over everything. He likes to put them all over me when I change his diaper. It’s hard to get one on him because he has his legs up in the air rubbing his feet on my shirt or arms. We are still working on solids, and Sawyer likes to help us feed him. He likes to hold on to the spoon or your hand with both hands as you guide it toward his mouth. Occasionally he wants the spoon, so we let him have it. He is still enjoying eating and trying out new foods. He is currently fascinated with the ceiling. No matter what position he is in, he will crane his neck to see the ceiling. This kid is flexible the way he bends over backwards! I always wonder what is so fascinating up there. One of Sawyer’s favorite things is to have his head rubbed. If I have to wake him up, I rub his head and he smiles in his sleep. He’s like a kitty and would have me rub his head forever. He just loves to touch and be touched. Sawyer would be held all the time if we would. If you move or look in his direction, he starts jumping and grinning and laughing and raising his arms to be picked up. I’m sorry sweetheart, I’m just walking to the kitchen…..My little entertainer has decided that Brinlee is a good audience, since she laughs at absolutely everything. Today I had them side by side in exersaucers, and Sawyer did this little fake cough thing. Brinlee thought that was hilarious, so he kept it up, giggling and grinning the whole time.
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/Kimball
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/Kimball’s absolute favorite thing is one of the jumpers we have. He will jump like a crazy man forever. The funniest thing is even if he is upset and fussing or crying, he doesn’t stop jumping. No reason not to enjoy his jumper while he waits for someone to meet his needs. I try not to laugh at him because he is serious about being upset, but sometimes I can’t help it. He wasn’t so into eating solids for the first few days. He would take very little. A few days into feeing I put a little cereal on his lip so that if he stuck his tongue out, he would at least taste it. Every time I went down the line I offered him some cereal, but he usually closed his mouth and turned his head. I would continue my rounds, giving him a chance to try it. Finally, he grabbed at the spoon, so I let him have it. Kimball stuck it in his mouth, sucked all the cereal off and dropped the spoon. We went through that a few more times, and ever since then, he has been willing to eat everything. He still sometimes grabs the spoon, and I let him feed himself, or sometimes he just wants to help me hold the spoon. What is a little more challenging is when he grabs the spoon while I am feeding Brinlee. He wants to help feed her, too. I let him. Poor Brinlee gets a little messier (not that you could tell a difference. She makes plenty of her own mess), but they are learning to eat, and that’s what matters.
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/Brinlee
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/Brinlee is tthhhhiiiiiiissssss close to rolling from back to front. She rolls from side to side, even throwing her leg over, but that arm is in the way. She’ll crane her neck and we’ll think there is no possible way she can stay on her side, and yet she does. She continues to do well eating solids, but is still pretty indifferent about it. She rubs it all over herself. She sticks her hands in her mouth and then rubs her hands all over her face and legs. Once she is good and covered, she starts to get upset because she doesn’t like having carrots all over her. I guess she is like her mama (who is like her own dad) and hates to be messy. She will fuss until I get the basin and start cleaning her up. With the first wipe of the washcloth she is happy again. Now I just keep a burp cloth over there, so if she is too messy mid-meal, I can give her a quick swipe and she is happy again. Someday she will clue in to the fact that she can avoid the mess altogether. Brinlee’s got a new self-soothing method of blowing raspberries on whatever she can get her mouth on. Often it’s her own hand and arm, but sometimes it’s my neck or face as I cuddle her before a nap or bed. She leaves a huge slobber pool behind. She has also started this new thing while she eats of kicking her leg like a Rockette. Just one leg (usually left), rhythmically. I just know she’s going to dance! Brinlee also loves the jumper and will go like a maniac forever. No wonder she’s so tiny, she’s burning calories. She is incredibly strong. If you pick her up by her hands, she’ll pull her arms down like she’s flexing her biceps and just hold that way.
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/Feeding the kids solid foods is pretty fun. They enjoy the new flavors and textures. The hard part is the clean up. Whoever decided that babies should start solids at the same time they learn to blow bubbles and take a major interest in their toes must have been taking revenge on their own kids via the grandkids. Getting food out from between toes is a major task 3 times a day, not to mention the remnants found in the nose, ears and other crevices. And what crevices they miss on themselves, they rub in for each other. They can’t keep their hands off each other. Mealtimes are a regular gropefest. The kids are never so interested in one another as when there is food to smear around. The foods they have tried so far are rice cereal, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, corn, peas, green beans and pears are next on the list. They haven’t rejected anything yet. They have made a few faces with the first bite or two (especially with peas), but no rejections yet. With so many helpful hands during feedings, I keep a whole stack of spoons with me so I can continue while someone gums a spoon.
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/Last Friday we went to the zoo with the Guinn family, who have triplets 2 weeks older than ours. They have 3 girls, Alyssa, Makenna, and Isabelle. We had a great time. We got to see the baby panda, Mei Lan, who was just adorable, but my favorite part was probably the gorillas and their babies. One gorilla had twins, and she had them under control. They were playing and messing with each other and conspiring, but mama never batted an eye. She separated them when things got too rough, and when they tried to take off in separate directions, she grabbed each by the ankle and no one got away. I’m going to have to learn that trick very soon. We saw lots of animals. We got the kids out of the strollers at every part to show them the animals. I don’t know if they even looked at them, but we tried. Kimball took a good little snooze for part of it. The kids were great and we had a lot of fun. We are planning on exploring our city and going on an expedition every month.
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/Memorial Day weekend we are going to visit my family for the first time. It will be our first road trip. Until now, the longest car trip for them has been to the hospital, which is about 30 minutes away. We are planning to feed them their evening bottle, pop them in their seats and hit the road. It should take about 3 hours to get there. Hopefully when we arrive they won’t wake up and decide it’s party time. The kids are going to meet all of the cousins on my side except one, and they will meet her in August. This trip is just as stressful to me as the Arkansas trip was, but we’ll be ok.
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/They are all sitting up a little more every day. They bend forward quite a bit, but their balance is pretty good. I seriously doubt they will ever crawl because we can’t get them to spend any time on their tummies. They just roll over, and since I am usually dealing with one of the other two, I can’t sit there and make them stay on their bellies. The reflux issue also factors in. They really need to be upright for quite a while after eating, especially Sawyer. Plus, now that we are eating solids, feeding, cleaning up and changing them takes the whole 2 hours they are awake. I know this will pass, but in the meantime, tummy time is very limited.
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/We are so brave after our last trip that we have decided to fly cross-country for Christmas this year to see Adam’s family (it’s their year). Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer will be 14 months old by then and much more mobile. That is good and bad. We’re excited to go and have them meet the enormous extended family out there.
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/Of course most of you have heard that Shrek and Fiona have triplets. They even had two boys and a girl, just like us. I bought the dolls for our little ogres. I let them play with them for a few minutes, and they were already chewing on their faces, which I take as a positive sign. I haven’t decided when I’ll give them the dolls. Maybe when they are a little older, like for their birthday. Or maybe next week.
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/I took the kids out by myself. Yes I did. We went to the mall. Since we had so many problems with our triple stroller, we ended up getting a double and a single. I can’t push 2 strollers, so I put Brinlee in a front pack and pushed the boys in the double stroller. We got our errand done with great ease and left after about 30 minutes. It is really nice that we attract far less attention with a double and a single or a double and a front pack. People think it’s twins, which apparently isn’t a big deal. By the time they realize we are all together, they are eating our dust (soon to be Cheerios).
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/Mommy wised up and feeds us in our diapers now because we have so much fun fingerpainting.
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/Kimball feeding himself for the first time
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/The lady is a tramp. No, not our precious Brinlee, the elephant she is chewing on. You may recognize her as Kimball’s make out partner from the last post. She really gets around. Really.
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/Brinlee and Sawyer engrossed in one another.
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/Brinlee is hanging on to the front of the jumper and grins at Sawyer. She was desperately trying to chew that bar.
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/At the zoo with the elephants holdng Kimball and Sawyer.
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/Brinlee and Sawyer thought Mei Lan was cute, but they’re cuter. I really should start charging admission.
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/Sawyer and Brinlee made the most of the trip and were held much of the time. No naps for them.
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/Adam attacks the two-headed monster.
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/But the two-headed monster fought back and won!
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/Brinlee giving her Shrek baby the seal of approval.
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/Is that Kimball? No, it’s Adam.
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/I already know you are laughing at the ears, but I have grown into them. We’re focusing on the face here, people. Look at the face. Sawyer in a dress? No, it’s April.
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/Seriously, I can hear you laughing. Focus on the face. Looks like Brinlee, doesn’t it?
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/A glimpse of Brinlee and Sawyer’s future. I hope Brinlee gets my curls.
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/Kimball in a year? Lucky!