Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!

What an amazing few months!  A lot has happened since my last update, obviously. I will do my best to recap it as precisely as I can.  The girls are growing and changing a little every day.  Sometimes I like to keep them in their jammies all day long, just because when I get them dressed in their big girl clothes they look so old!  These last few months have been the best.  I wish I could freeze time for a bit... but I think I have said that before.  I guess that means I am a very blessed mom, because so far, there has not been a "stage" that I have not loved every second of.  They just keep getting better!!  :)

The girls turned one year old on December 16th.  The weekend prior, we had a nice gathering of very special friends and our moms to celebrate the big event.  The girls were on their best behavior and had their own mini birthday cupcakes (they would have been jealous of the cakes that the Maldonado boys had!!!).  They had fun opening gifts and getting lots of new books and a few new toys.  Nathan bought them three of the Little Tikes Cozy Coupes which they LOVE!  It will be really fun this Spring when they are a little bigger.  It's going to be a bumper car park in our driveway!!

The other big surprise was that I had a client come into the clinic with a sick puppy that he sadly couldn't afford to treat.  Because he wanted the best for this dog, he asked if I would take him and care for him.  How could I say no! It all happened on the girls actual birthday and I thought it was fate.  Turns out he is a great little dog and we love him very much, especially now that peeing in the house is becoming less frequent.  His name is Gibson, aka Gibby, the Gibber, little dude and "that damn dog peed in the house again!"

                                  

The weekend after their birthday, we had a nice birthday/early Christmas gathering with my Mom and Willy's family.  It's always so great to see the girls with their three older cousins.  I have a feeling they are going to have lots of fun with those boys in the years to come!

Christmas this year was with my mom and Sid up on MDI.  Porter joined us as well.  It was a perfect long weekend.  Lots of snow, which allowed for the girls first sledding experience.  Really just one pull down the golf course which is barely even on an incline, but it was fun nonetheless.  The girls had a blast on Christmas morning, opening presents, playing with new toys (especially their new tube), and eating... oh wait, that was me. :)  Thanks to Mom and Sid for hosting this year.

New Year's was about as mellow as it gets.  Our neighbors had a party, but our babysitter fell through and so we split time next door.  I think I was in bed by 9:30p... which was really depressing when my MOTHER called me from a bar in BH and woke me up at 10:30p.  What has my life become?!?!  But you know what?  I don't miss it for a second.  I would much rather go to bed early so I can be chipper and be with my girls bright and early the next day.  Priorities change.  It's a good thing.

We have had such a wonderful year.  I feel so unbelievably lucky that I have three such amazing children.  They are the light of my life and I can't imagine things any different.  It was all meant to be.  I also want to say how lucky I am to have a husband that is as involved and dedicated to our kids as Nathan is.  He is amazing with the girls and has been a huge part in making the last year one of the best of my life.  Thank you, honey.

Now for little updates on the girls...

Maizie...  Miss Moo,weighing in around 22 pounds, is doing great.   She is definitely the most advanced mover at this point. It's not so much that she moves fast, but she is definitely walking!!  Every day she walks a little further. I think she could be a full time walker, but she seems to lack the motivation to get there. She has 6 teeth (4 upper and 2 lower), although the next set of incisors coming in on the bottom and I think I see some molars coming in as well.  She is just starting to dance by moving her body around and some of her favorites are that she blows kisses, high fives, hands up, and claps her hands.  She is working on identifying her nose, ears, etc, but still gets them a little confused.  She is a great eater, although her favorite way to tell us she is done is the windshield wiper move.  Not my favorite, but Wakefield and Gibson are big fans.  We actually devised a bumper for the feeding table that prevents food from being thrown onto the floor. Maizie is definitely the joker of the family and the loudest (sound familiar?).

Maizie's other big news is that a month ago, she had the sebaceous nevus (like a white mole of sorts) on her head removed. It was a scary day for me, but Maizie did absolutely amazing. She had a 3 inch incision on her head when it was done!  She was so brave. Very few tears and no complications.  She is now all healed up and shouldn't have any further issues with it.

Charlie...  Charlie is still our little peanut, weighing in about 18 pounds. Charlie is taking her time with the walking process. She is a super fast at crawling and is starting to think about standing on her own.  She can buzz around on her walker all day long, but isn't ready to do it on her own.  I think part of the problem is when she gets on her feet, she just wants to move and she isn't patient enough to learn to balance first.  So, crawling it is for now! I think she will catch on once she sees her sisters cruising around. ***Ok since it is taking me so long to get this darn update posted... Charlie is now standing on her own and is trying to take steps. She is really excited about it! She may have taken the longest to get started, but her learning curve is progressing quickly!  Charlie has six teeth as well, although two of them are just barely showing.

Charlie is going through a really mellow phase. She rarely cries unless there is a good reason. While the other two will cry sometimes when they wake up to get me up there asap, Charlie just chills in her crib playing with her stuffed animals and flipping through books.  I have to consciously be sure that I am holding her and rocking her as much as the other two because she doesn't demand it like they do.  Thank you, Charlie! :)

Charlie loves to clap her hands and has a new talent of clapping her feet during diaper changes. She also blows kisses, waves goodbye, high fives and dances. She is the best dancer in the group. Charlie needs no encouragement. When she hears music, she starts gyrating her whole body. It's pretty funny.  One of Charlie's new things is using her index finger to explore. Lots of pointing, squishing things with her finger, stuffing said finger up her nose, in my eyes, in her ears and anywhere else it will fit.  Fun!!

Reese... And then there is Miss Reesie.  Reese is still our biggest bear.  She is weighing in around 23 pounds as of a few weeks ago.  Reese is in the middle of the walking learning process. She stands up on her own with confidence, but is still hesitant to take steps. She has taken a few steps here and there, but really doesn't seem to have the motivation to learn faster. I wouldn't be surprised if Charlie's motivation made it so she was the first to really be WALKING as a primary mode of transportation. The other two are just not that into it. Buy, hey, that's fine with me. I'm in no rush to be running in three different directions!

Reese is still our best eater, go figure. She will pretty much eat anything.  She has all the talents of the other girls with clapping, high fiving, blowing kisses, waving goodbye, etc.  She is by far the best peek-a-boo player we have. She will put anything and everything on her head.  Reese has taken to emptying her crib of all stuffed animals, blankets, books, etc. It all seems great to her...until she is sad that she doesn't have anything to play with.  Reesie is also exploring her voice more than the others.  She loves to make lots of noise just to hear herself.  It's cute...most of the time. :)

So, I guess that's about it for now.  It's really hard to write these because I wait so long between updates that there is too much to cover!  I am actually a little embarrassed at how poorly this post looks. Oh well, that's just the way it is. We are really looking forward to Spring.  We have been housebound for too long! Time to get outside.  Lots of love!