First Word 'DaDa'

Just when I started to wonder when the babies would start babbling again, Evan kicked in it full gear. The last few days he starting babbling, strings of sounds including Blah Blah Blahs and a few Was and Das among others.

But today was the first day that Evan repeated said DaDa over and over. He doesn't know what he is saying but he loves to say it! And thinks it is endlessly funny when we repeat it.

Boys 1st Football Game

David and Jason took the boys to the orange and white scrimmage game. It was their first football game and of course they loved it - there was lots of activity, people and colorful players running across the field to watch. They likely got the idea that football is an exciting sport. Despite missing nap time they were generally in good spirits. Apparently Will would get a little fussy when the cannon would go off disturbing his attempt to catch a nap.


And don't worry, Lily will get to go another time. We have been rotating through activities so that there is one adult per baby and they can get undivided attention. Last week Lily and Evan got to go on a field trip to IKEA which was another busy, colorful place with lots of new things to see. This morning Will and I went for a walk to Pacha together for my morning coffee, enjoying all the birds and spring flowers along the way.

Most of the time they have to share our attention and their toys and are already learning how to wait their turn, for the next bite of food or for their bath. They should be pros at sharing and cooperation by the time they get to preschool.

First Night Away

David took me along on his business trip to San Diego this week. We spent a night at the Hotel Parisi. Our room had a stunning view of the Atlantic...ahh. He took Wednesday off so we could hike along the beach and enjoy a leisurely day together. We had dinner at George's on the Cove where we enjoyed some great wine, smoked mussels and an amazing view and sunset. I also got my first massage since the babies were born.


Mom and Mayela worked overtime to take care of the babies, especially since I got stuck in Phoenix on my way home for an extra night. I was very happy to be reunited with my brood on Friday. Lily even gave me the cold shoulder! but she warmed up quickly and our happy family was back together again with David's arrival from New York.



It seems that the babies changed so much in just three days. Evan is now holding his feet and enjoys playing peek a boo. They all tried out their new highchairs and sippy cups for the first time. Of course determined Lily already has it down - she can hold her own sippy cup and get her spoon in her mouth.

Baby Shoes

We got our first shoes this weekend. Aww, so cute.

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

We've reached the half year mark! The babies are growing so fast. It is a delight to see them continue to try new things. Will, Evan and Lily are able to entertain themselves more these days - comfortably pushing up, rotating and reaching to grab and play with their toys or each other. Evan was banging on his baby keyboard with both hands yesterday having a great time. Will has discovered his feet and loves to put his legs up in the air and grab his toes. Lily can amuse her self with anything, happy and giggling while rolling over and over. They still love books but turning the pages or eating the pages is becoming more fun than listening to the stories.

We visited Dr. Mani for the six month check up last Thursday. Everyone was measured, weighed and evaluated. To top off the visit they received three shots each. The doctor was happy to see them continue to catch up on the growth curves. Here are our latest stats:

Lily
Weight 14 lb 14 oz (20th percentile)
Height 25 in (25th percentile)
Head 42 cm (45th percentile)

Evan
Weight 15 lb 9 oz (20th percentile)
Height 25 3/4 in (25th percentile)
Head 43 cm (25th percentile)

Will
Weight 15 lb 12.5 oz (25th percentile)
Height 25 1/4 (10th percentile)
Head 42 1/4 (25th percentile)

Unfortunately RSV season has not ended. We were instructed to stay dilligent with handwashing and keep the babies away from children in day care or anyone with a cold through at least April or possibly May when we get the all clear.

Doctor gave us the ok to continue on rice and assorted fruits and veggies. We can start trying sippy cups with apple juice and water now too. At 7 to 9 months we should add meats and mixed baby foods. No fish, peanut butter, OJ or egg whites until at least one year as these may trigger allergies.

One on One Time

Girls went on a walk to Pacha for a latte this morning. I've been trying to spend more one on one time with each baby for a special treat for both of us. I took Lily this morning in my fun new Zolawear sling (a local austin company). She loved it, so did I.

Five Months Old

Last night Team Freas hit a big milestone. The kids went down at 7pm and slept until 6am the next morning! Mom and Dad celebrated by taking the family for a morning jog.

Evan has been enjoying practicing turning from back to front by twisting his legs over. He doesn't quite make it all the way yet but he is so close and determined. He's made great strides in bath time, actually starting to enjoy himself on occasion. Evan is very outgoing and adorable at bedtime, when changing into pjs he gets ticklish and loves to laugh.

Lily has become quite adept at managing her bottle and she likes to hold it all by herself during feeding times. What a independent girl. Lily is an extremely happy baby and she has a stellar smile. We will go to get her after naps and often she is talking or singing to herself content in her crib. When she sees us she kicks and smiles with excitement.

Will is now rolling over easily and can even sit up for extended moments of time. He has been exploring making new sounds including blowing rasberries to get our attention. He looks like a Gerber baby with his chubby cheeks, large eyes and no hair. Will is a mellow tempered baby and has a sweet flirtatious smile.

They have all been enjoying their first solids. Squash was their foray into solids. Green beans didn't go over so well (ask David) but bananas are a favorite. They have also sampled carrots and apple sauce.

They are now enjoying their toys much more. The exersaucer is a new addition and keeps them enthralled for many minutes. Evan is able to twirl around to explore the variety of toys, Lily likes to have conversations with the hand puppet duck, and Will likes to activate the dragon stuffed animal by squeezing the buttons on its hand.

Lets see...their favorite books these days are Oh my, Oh my, Oh Dinosaurs, Pajama Time, Ten Little Ladybugs and Urban Babies Wear Black.

Getting to know you...

The babies are starting to interact more and more with each other. They think it is so funny to see another baby, laughing and giggling when they are on the floor together.

Yesterday, Evan was reaching out trying to grab Memo's head and ears. From early on, Evan has seemed very in tune with his siblings.

Evan Catnap

Evan crashes out on the floor with his frog after a fun afternoon playing with Papa and Grammy. It's Papa's 60th birthday!

Developmental Therapist Visit

Good news, we passed all of our developmental tests. The babies are all doing great and they LOVED the one on one attention, all laughing and smiling w/ Mary Elizabeth, the therapist. Bad news, they don't qualify for therapy. Would have loved to have her visit them and work with them on a regular basis. But she can visit again in two months to check their progression.

Will was a big flirt, Evan was very talkative and Lily was smiley and happy.

We were instructed to buy more toys and interesting rattles to encourage 'mid-line' grabbing. The way we prop the babies on the boppies is good as it encourages them to hold their bottles too.

She also said it is good that they show preference for toys, as that shows ability to self soothe. Will loved some crazy rattle she had w/ lots of colors and textures. Evan loves puppy and grabs both ears and puts them in his mouth.

Let's see, what else, Lily showed off her gracefull rolling skills. You go strong girl!

Here is a group shot we took after the session.

Update: All babies scored at their real age level on the developmental tests (18-19), horray! So, even though they were almost four weeks premature, they are performing at a normal four month level rather than their adjusted age of about three months.

Pajama Time

The moon is up, its getting late. Let's get ready to celebrate. It's pajama time! Grandpa and Dad read Trucks to Evan before bedtime. He was very 'talkative' having lots to say about the different trucks.

Bubbles

Nanny Mayela is always coming up with new fun things to do. She brought bubbles from gymboree the other day. They love it!

She also brought us some lively new music that the babies enjoy, a kids version of some Spanish songs. Ahh...finally some new music to listen to! We are getting pretty tired of the few CDs we have in the baby room Baby Mozart, Nora Jones, Gypsy Kings and Yoga relaxation.

We are so lucky to have Mayela, the babies adore her and she loves them too.

Back to the park with Dad and Jason

Dad and Jason wanted to get in on the park fun...here are a few more pics of the gang. Will is starting to see what all the fun is about. Smiley Lily enjoyed a push from Jason.

First Time at the Swings

Finally, some sunny weather. We were able to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. We decided to try out the swings in the park across from our house for the first time.

Babies seemed curious, not too excited but not protesting either. We did get a big smile from Evan - weee!

The boys shared a bucket swing. This swing is huge mom! (Will and Evan)






Lily prefers to ride solo.

Rolly Polly Lily

Here is Lily about to roll over, now that she has discovered how fun it can be she rolls over all the time. Unfortunately, she has decided that she likes to roll over in her crib, but doesn't like to sleep on her back. Now mom and dad take turns, rolling her back on her tummy at night.

4 month checkup

It snowed in Austin! We had lots of ice, and even snow, the park was covered in white. It was a beautiful sight. We took the babies out side just long enough to catch a few snowflakes on their faces.

Most of Austin was shut down for half of the week, but that also meant no nanny. It was nice to have the family all home together but it was also pretty tiring. We were very happy to have Mayela return on Thursday.















Friday, the babies had their 4 month doctor appointment. It wasn't the best timing, in the middle of their nap time and overlapping into meal time. So our normally happy easy going babies were a bit rough around the edges. That plus shots made for an interesting time. We were all tuckered out by the end of it.















The good news is that everyone is growing, slowly catching up and doing well developmentally. They seem so big to me, I thought they would be higher percentile on the growth charts. Lily, who we thought was so petite turned out to be the highest percentile, so she's not that tiny afterall. The growth curves for boy and girl babies are just very different. She measured as long as Evan, which I find hard to believe. They were pretty wiggly so these measurements are probably not too accurate. Here's our latest stats:

Will
13lb 3 oz (25%)
22 1/2 in (<5%)

Evan
12 lb 13 oz (10%)
23 1/2 in (8%)

Lily
11 lb 13 oz (20%)
23 1/2 in (25%)

Evan is rolling over consistantly, he gets up on his arms and slowly 'tumps' over to his left. So brave! Lily and Will have eached rolled over a couple times in their cribs but we haven't seen it yet.

Evan and Lily are very vocal with lots of ah goos, gees, oohs. Lily also likes to make hmmm-mmm-mm sounds and is testing out the volume of her voice with high pitched squeals. It looks like she is going to be a bit demanding, our little firecracker. But also, very happy, she smiled and laughed for the staff. Will is still growling, very cute, but generally more quiet and low key and not making many other sounds. The doctor said not to be concerned, that his nature is probably more calm and he is taking it all in. One day he should jump right in. We are to practice talking to him when the other two are not around, give him one on one time.

Evan was showing some signs of prematurity with his arms held out and wasn't interested in grabbing toys for the doctor. But at home he holds his frog paci and reaches out to the book during reading time so I'm not concerned. They all are are not very interested in reaching for toys yet, but do at times when they are in the mood. They have all been batting at toys on the activity mat for a while now.

So now we are practicing our fine motor skills, holding toys out to grab, doing more tummy time to practice rolling over and beginning to crawl. Also, spending more talking time with Will, less growling :)

Grandma G's Birthday

What better present than a pile of grandbabies. Here a few pics from Grandma's birthday trip with the trio.

Visiting the Volcanoes in Hawaii.

Egyptian Pyramids with Evan and Max

White water rafting in Colorado.

Routine

Wow, the babies are growing so fast. Over the last couple weeks the babies have started eating more (~ 7oz per feeding) and we were able to drop another feeding (down to five feedings). Horray!

Check out the boys in their 'big boy' camo pants (to the right).

As they approach their 4th month birthday and I return to work, we are working on getting them on a 'by the clock' schedule, rather than starting each day at a different time. They now have a regular bedtime at almost 6:30pm and morning wake up time around 7:30am. It is nice to finally have a consistent routine. I think it is also good for the babies to know what to expect.

We also started our night time ritual: bath/pjs, botttle, book, bed. Of course they only have 'real' baths a couple times a week. I'm looking forward to the day that we can put everyone in the tub together. It will either be really fun or really crazy or more likely both.

Their favorite book is Pajama Time. It is so much fun, they are really engaged and love to look at the colorful drawings. Evan was helping me 'turn' the pages yesterday! He is still singing along with the ooh yeahs, saying ooh oooh :)

Here is the routine we try to follow these days (more or less):

Morning
7:15 AM Quiet Awake
7:30 AM Feeding and diaper change, open shades and play music
8:00 AM Awake Time (read books, play music, sing songs, etc)
9:00 AM Morning nap time (~1hr 45 min)

Afternoon
10:45 AM Feeding and diaper change, play music
11:15 AM Awake Time
12:15 PM Afternoon nap time (~1 hr 45 min)

Late Afternoon
2:00 PM Feeding and diaper change, play music
2:30 PM Awake Time
3:30 PM Late afternoon nap Time (~1hr)
4:30 PM Awake Time (good time for walk/jog w/ babies)

Early Evening
5:00 PM Bath/PJs
5:20 PM Feeding and diaper change, play relaxing music, lights low
6:30 PM Bedtime

Middle of Night
3:00 AM Feeding, diaper change

Nights are getting easier and easier. Babies all sleep soundly from 6:30ish until at least 1:30am. I'm often up to give Evan or Lily a paci at this time but they go back to sleep until the middle of the night feeding. But occasionally, I won't hear a peep from anyone until after 3am. Will is still a champion sleeper, seems like I'm always having to wake him up at night to eat. We consider ourselves very lucky that everyone is sleeping so well. And I'm starting to get used to going to bed earlier myself.

We still have a night nanny once a week to ensure that we have a least one solid night of sleep. This week we had Marah two nights because Daddy was in Las Vegas for CES. Grandma is also getting more comfortable with taking the night shift and has been able to help out a few nights.

Back to Work

This is my second week back at work. It is tough to leave in the morning. Mornings are the best time, everyone is rested and happy, talking and smiling. It's good to know that they are in great hands with their nanny Mayela. Also, both grandmas have been helping nanny out so everyone is still getting lots of good cuddling time and attention.

Work has been fun so far, I'm managing online marketing campaigns and only working MTW. So far it seems like it will be a good balance of work and still lots of family time.

Emerging Personalities

It is extraordinary to see Will, Evan and Lily's personalities emerge. They are each already so unique.

Will has a laid back smile, it slowly unwraps like you are sharing a special secret with him. He has just started to chuckle which is a lot of fun. Will's favorite sound is growling. We discovered a couple of weeks ago that if we growled, he will growl back. He got big smiles and laughs and now he growls all the time. When I walk in his room in the morning and get him out of bed, first thing he greats me with a growl and a big smile.

Evan is very vocal and has been making lots of coo and ah gee sounds for the past month. He seems to carry on full conversations and seems very happy to be communicating. When we read pajammy time at bedtime there is a part of the song that goes - oh yeah. Evan will respond oooh, oooh. It is so darn cute. In the morning he howls happy ooohs - my cute little hound dog. Evan is such a happy baby but screams when we put him in the tub. I've been trying to figure out a way to make him more comfortable with bathtime.

Lily has a spectacular grin with a cute curved upper lip. It makes you feel like a million bucks. She also loves to coo and her eyes sparkle when she talks to you. She is a sweetie but when she wants her milk she will really let you know. She is going to be a little firecracker. She seems so tiny next to the boys. It will be interesting to see how she is growing at her 4 mo. appointment next Friday.