Update on Gus, Kate and Claire

Okay, so, now I am the mother of three, thirteen month old children. Wow!!

Here are the latest little facts about Gus, Kate and Claire...

• All of the babies are now feeding themselves finger foods. Their favorite finger food is pancakes. I cut the pancakes into tiny bits (toddler sized) so that they babies can easily eat them. Kate is a virtual pancake vacuum cleaner. That child can EAT some pancakes.
• All of the babies now have at least four teeth...2 on top, 2 on bottom with more coming in.
• All are still sleeping through the night (thank you, God, for being merciful to us in this matter).
• Kate and Claire have been making the "Mama" sound for quite some time. But, now, it appears that they really say "Mama" and mean ME. :o)
• Gus actually says "Dada" more than Mama, which is cute. Chad loves this!
• Claire loves music. She really enjoys the "Hokey Pokey" song on one of the CDs we have for all of the babies to listen to. I made the mistake of picking her up and actually DOING the Hokey Pokey WITH her, thinking I could stop at will. I was wrong. She threw a FIT when I tried to put her down mid-song. Anyway, Claire's version of "Hokey Pokey" is waving her arms around in the air, which is SO adorable.
• Gus can dance. He jigs his torso around and bounces up and down on his heels, which is SO funny! It looks like he's got his dad's "rhythm".
• Kate listens to music and flaps her arms around -- a little. She is the logical baby, so she prefers playing with the shape sorter and then sifting through piles of those little baby board books. She is a great page-turner.
• Claire is my little clone.
• Kate is starting to look more like Chad at times.
• Gus looks like both Chad and I.
• I have been taking the babies to the mall at least once per week for an air-conditioned stroller ride. They seem to enjoy it, and I enjoy it, too. It gets us all out of the house and into different surroundings for a little while. I always do this when it is NOT close to a nap or feeding time so that we are all in a good mood.
• Claire is a dare devil. We have a small slide in our play area. She will climb up it and then just FLING herself off, assuming that we will just magically appear and catch her. Scares me senseless!
• Kate also enjoys the slide. She climbs-up, then stands on the platform and gazes out at "her" people like she is on a balcony and wearing a princess dress and tiara.
• Gus is ALL boy. He loves the slide. He will climb up it and slide down it (with help on the down part) for long periods of time. He looks so proud of himself!
• All of the babies are now standing-up very well and are "cruising" from one piece of furniture to the next.
• Kate has been known to take 3 hour afternoon naps. THREE HOURS, folks!
• Claire will nap for about 2 hours. YAY, Claire.
• Gus naps for 30 minutes. HOLY MOLEY!!
• All of the babies have attempted to whack, push and bite each other at one time or another. I cannot tell you how many times per day I hear myself saying, "No bite/no hit/no shove." Yes, they understand the word "no". Sometimes when I say it to one baby, all of the babies will stop what they are doing and look at me.
• My stone fireplace hearth is now covered in bed pillows, topped by an old bed spread so that the babies will not knock themselves out and have an ER visit. I also took down the living room drapes because I was afraid that if I didn't take them down that the mini-mob would take them down for me. Oh, well. It's not forever. Their safety is more important than home decor.
• Gus can climb -- very well.
• Claire can slam doors -- very well.
• Kate is fast -- very fast.
• It takes me 30 minutes, five times a day, to clean the babies' high chairs after they eat. Yep...it's a total disaster.
• Chad and I took Gus, Kate and Claire to visit an elderly (in her 90's) friend of ours and her two sisters (also in their 90's). I thought the babies were going to destroy the place...especially Claire. She was in fine form. The ladies were very gracious, though, and Chad and I did our very best to corral our little curious mob. In spite of the chaos, the sweet ladies seemed to really enjoy the visit. They laughed at us -- ALOT!
• Kate has an "attachment object". This object is a small, soft little velour blanket that someone had made for her when she was born. I have been calling her "Miss Linus", you know, like Linus from Peanuts who always carried his blanket. We caught Kate crawling with her little blanket in her mouth. I guess she figured out that she could have her blanket with her at all times if she did this. Yes, Chad and I have made a note that we can never (NEVER) misplace this little blanket!!
• The babies have been going to church nursery each Sunday for a month. Each Sunday, Claire cries. Each Sunday, all of the babies stare at the nursery workers as if the nursery workers are from another planet.

As you can see, Gus, Kate and Claire are keeping Chad and I HOPPING! We are still having fun! Sure, there are some difficult days, but that is to be expected when raising three completely different little human beings, right?

On a more serious note, please keep Gus in your prayers. He has been having some issues with crying for long (LONG) periods of time since December/January. We do not know what is wrong. This crying could be related to some sensory integration issues because he was premature. We are having him evaluated.

Chad and I will be taking the babies to Dallas tomorrow to see their developmental specialist. Pray for a good report.

We love and miss you all.

Leslie

P.S. Pictures from top to bottom: Chad kissing Gus; Gus, Kate and Claire in "ball pit" at our house; Claire laughing in ball pit; Gus laughing in ball pit; Gus/Kate/Claire visiting our elderly friend; Claire, destroying our elderly friend's couch; Chad holding Claire and our elderly friend holding Kate.