New Stats

The babies had their 18-month check-up yesterday. Here are the current stats:

Piper: 21 lbs., 14 oz. (10-25th percentile), 31 inches tall (25-50th percentile), 18 inch head circumference (25-50th percentile)

Henry: 22 lbs., 2 oz. (5-10th percentile), 31 3/4 inches tall (25-50th percentile), 19 inch head circumference (50-75th percentile)

Rosemary: 18 lbs., 15 oz. (<5th percentile), 29 inches tall (<5th percentile), 17 1/2 inch head circumference (5-10th percentile)

I can't believe how big Piper is, especially since I rarely see any food actually go into her mouth rather than on the wall or floor. Henry is our best eater, and Rosemary a close second. Piper doesn't eat -- yet she continues to grow. It's a great mystery.

I know I haven't been posting much -- I've had writer's block . . . or something like that. I do have plenty of Christmas pictures to post that will be coming up over the next few days, though!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Childproofing a Fireplace -- Gary Style

A couple of weeks ago, I was getting my hair did at the hair salon when I got an e-mail from Gary. I read it and made some suitably appropriate expletive, causing my hair stylist to ask if everything was okay. It went something like this:

Hair Stylist: Is everything okay?
Me: Well, my husband sent me an e-mail and all it says is, "They ate rocks from the fireplace."
Hair Stylist: Oh no! Your dogs?
Me: No, my children, I presume.
Hair Stylist: Oh. Uh. Well, I hope they're okay.

In case you are wondering, Poison Control said that those fireplace rocks are non-toxic. It's good to know things like that.

Anyway, we now have to really keep an eye out to make sure that the kids don't get in the fireplace. We thought about a lot of things that involved spending money, when Gary had a great idea. We would just use the cardboard box from the stair gate to block off the fireplace. Whatever gets the job done. . . . Gary and I made a few cracks about how tacky it looked, then Gary disappeared upstairs and came back downstairs to get to work on reducing the tackiness of the fireplace child-blocker. Following are pictures detailing the transition:







Isn't it nice to have a fireplace that isn't tacky?!!

Addiction

It must be hereditary. I leave my Starbucks alone for just one second, and Rosemary goes after it. . . . At least she seems to appreciate it!

Rosemary on the Beach

Henry on the Beach

Piper on the Beach

Thirty Little Toes Touch the Sand for the First Time

For Thanksgiving we made the trip down to Pensacola to visit Gary's parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephews, and a few other relatives, and we made it back home tonight. We had a good time, and this morning we took the babies out to see the beach for the first time. The babies absolutely loved the beach and thought that the sand was delicious!! More than once, Gary had to catch Henry from running straight into the water. The kids were pretty upset with us when we finally dragged them off the beach.

This was the first time that I took pictures on the beach since I began shooting in manual. The biggest lesson that I have learned is that next time I really need to pay attention to where the shadows are falling. Shadows aren't a huge deal on grass, but they really make a difference on sand. Since I took the pictures later on in the morning, I also got a few harsh shadows on the kids' faces. I think I'm going to invest in a reflector to eliminate those shadows the next time, at least for a few of the more important shots. I had not bought one because I usually have control over what time and in what weather I take pictures, but as I learned this morning, sometimes you just have to take the pictures when you can take the pictures! That being said, I am happy with the way the pictures turned out.

I took a zillion pictures, and once I went through and decided which ones I want to post, I quickly decided that I have way too many for one post. So, as I did with the pumpkin patch pictures, today I am posting some pictures of the babies together. Over the next 3 days, I'll make a post for Piper, Henry, and Rosemary individually.