Second Haircuts

The babies were waaaaaay past due for haircuts, and all three had one form or the other of a mullet. I decided that we absolutely had to get their hair cut before Easter, and this past Saturday afternoon I finally made some appointments at the same place where the babies had their hair cut the first time. This time, however, we were able to get three appointments at the same time, so all the babies had their hair cut at the same time. That is definitely the way to go -- we walked in at 4:30 and walked out at 4:45.

We are going for a one-length hair style for the girls. So, while we wait on the top and sides to catch up, we are bobbing the backs. For Henry, we want his hair longer, but the top just stays sooooo short. From talking with his hair stylist, it looks like his hair is indeed growing, but when he bangs his head on the crib at night he breaks off his hair. Yet another reason we can't wait until he outgrows this headbanging thing. . . .

Anyway, here are some shots from the haircutting session:











This time we even went all out and got glitter in the hair, and a glitter heart on the cheek (even though you can barely see Rosemary's heart -- it was there and she liked it):

Saturday Morning Photos

This past weekend we went to our regular spot -- Aldridge Gardens. This time we had Auntie Ann with us. That worked out really well because we had man-to-man coverage, which means we could really let the kids take off. The kids had a blast.








Rosemary was pretty funny. She kept laying down on the concrete or rock pathways and just sunning herself. I don't know what she was doing, but she enjoyed it!

It's a . . . .

GIRL!!!



We had our targeted ultrasound yesterday morning. The baby's organs, heart, brain, etc. all looked good. She weighs in at about 9 ounces, which is how much Piper weighed at this gestation (Rosemary weighed 8 ounces, and Henry 11 ounces). She also posed a little bit for us. . . .




When we had our targeted ultrasound with the babies, we got a good shot of Henry's feet. Gary immediately exclaimed that he had my "freaky long toes" -- and sure enough, to this day, Henry still has my toes. Gary didn't think that this baby has my "freaky long toes" but then I'm not sure. They sure don't look that short to me, but then Gary doesn't think I truly comprehend the freaky longness of my own toes:



We even got a 3D shot of the baby, but she wasn't very cooperative. . . .



For some reason, this baby's movements reminded me a bit of Rosemary, though she certainly was more cooperative than Rosemary ever was. Piper was always a great poser, but Rosemary was pretty difficult. It took a few weeks to find out Rosemary's gender because she kept trying to hide the goods. I think we ended up with a grand total of ONE profile ultrasound picture of Rosemary because she just wanted to save the surprise for later (which is no small feat considering I had WEEKLY ultrasounds for the entire pregnancy). This baby was not that difficult, but something about her just reminds me of Rosemary.

We think that we have this baby's name picked out, but we're going to ponder it for a little while longer just to be sure. . . .

Little Artists

I've been a little scared to use crayons and paper with the kids. The biggest problem I foresee is that Rosemary puts everything she sees in her mouth, then eats it. The other two see Rosemary eating objects that aren't supposed to be eaten, and they try to eat the same inedible object. I know crayons are non-toxic, but honestly, how many crayons is it really safe to eat?!!

If this is something that is inherited, I suppose they got it from me. Apparently I had a similar problem as a child, and was horribly disappointed to wake up one Christmas morning to a note from Santa telling me that I couldn't have a Lite Brite until I could stop putting things in my mouth.

Anyway. Not too long ago Toys R Us had a sale on those coloring packs with the markers that only write on the special paper that comes with them. I decided that was the perfect thing for our kids. . . . Last weekend I pulled out the notebooks and markers for a little fun.








I started out coloring a little on the pads to show them how it works. Piper colored a tiny bit on hers (and by tiny bit, I mean those few small little blue marks in the top left quadrant of the page):



Henry actually did the most coloring of any of them and I was quite impressed:



Rosemary did a decent job for her first shot at coloring and even tore off a corner of the page for a little artistic twist to her work:



A plus is that this was a great opportunity for me to play with my new camera lens.





The problem is that they still put the markers in their mouths. And THEY BIT OFF THE TIP OF THE MARKERS and tried to eat them. Thankfully, as far as I can tell, I fished all the marker bits out of their mouths. Maybe crayons really would be better than that. Regardless, at least everyone had fun! Though we're probably not going to be that out again for a while. . . .

Piper's New Trick

Back before Piper was even 5 months old, she developed an ability to scream every time I pulled a camera out. She seemed to outgrow that problem, and became quite the flirt whenever she saw a camera. Now I think that Piper is our most photogenic baby. That being said, Piper has recently learned a new trick -- temper tantrums. It reminds me of those days way back when. Anyway, so far we are "treating" the temper tantrums by ignoring her (well, except for when I take pictures of her -- I just can't resist).

This past weekend, I managed to capture Piper having a temper tantrum on three separate occasions. The first was at Aldridge Gardens. Gary took off her dress to check for ants, and she apparently didn't want it back on. We actually had to walk off and give her a few moments to work things out. . . .




Next, she had a temper tantrum when we left Cracker Barrel. I don't think that she really wanted to stay at Cracker Barrel, but maybe she liked those pancakes more than I had thought.




Finally, she had another temper tantrum at home when I put up the markers and coloring books. She was barely using the coloring books, but apparently she wanted them pretty badly.



I guess we really are getting close to 2.

A Cracker Barrel Breakfast

Back before we had the kids, Gary and I had many breakfasts at Cracker Barrel. We got out of the habit when the kids were born. Once the kids were big enough to enjoy breakfast at Cracker Barrel I tried to convince Gary to go, but he never seemed to want to go. You see, typically I take care of the morning things with the babies on the weekends, and Gary takes care of the afternoon things. Apparently, Gary preferred to stay in bed than to save me the effort of making breakfast for the kids. Go figure.

Anyway, I haven't even asked to go to Cracker Barrel in a while, but this weekend when I woke up and thought about how good Cracker Barrel would be, I thought that maybe I could convince Gary to take me under the guise of a pregnancy-induced craving. It worked!! We loaded the kids up and took them to their first Cracker Barrel breakfast.

The kids really enjoyed themselves, and were surprisingly well behaved at the restaurant. I was a little concerned when Rosemary didn't get food right when she sat down. She kept patting her placemat and looking around, sort of like, "Hello? Who is bringing me my breakfast?!!" Luckily, we started out with some biscuits, then the kids split a Sunrise Sampler. They also ate all of my baked apples. Oh well.





The highlight of the breakfast was when Gary let the kids try his pancakes. Those were a HUGE hit!!

A Picnic with Friends

This past Saturday we met some friends -- Jobey, Leslie, Landon, and Lyda -- at Aldridge Gardens for a playdate and then for a picnic. We had an awesome time, and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. Best of all, everyone had a great nap afterwards!

Leslie brought these great big containers of bubbles, with wands so that each kid could blow their own bubbles, and those were a big hit. The kids played with those for a while. Then of course everyone had a great time just running around. I loved seeing our kids playing with other kids -- it's something we haven't had much opportunity to do so far. For some reason Rosemary took off for the lake everytime we let her out of our eyesight, but we didn't have any swimming . . . this time at least.

The most amazing thing was how my kids ate all of Leslie's food. Every time Leslie would open up their food basket -- my kids just swarmed around her. I kept saying that I really did feed them breakfast that morning! When we got home, Gary informed me that I underperformed in the food department for the picnic, but I prefer to think that anyone else's food is just better than mine. My mom tells me that when I was little that my dad would get so embarrassed because we would go to one of his friend's houses and I'd eat like I hadn't eaten in days. I guess I'm being paid back. Anyway -- thanks for feeding everyone, Leslie!!

Here are a few pics from our big outing: