elephants, thumbs, and babies

A lot has been happening in our house since my last post.  Owen had a successful surgery on the 2nd of June and is doing very well, except for a 24 hour tummy bug over the weekend.  He's talking more and more every day and I love to hear his little voice.  He's so sweet and wants to hold his babies more often -- he lets us know by saying, 'I wanna hold that baby'.  :o)  He doesn't usually refer to them by name, but can name them if you ask him to.  Here's a picture of the 4 of them together on friday.  I dont' think I'll ever get a good picture of them all together....

Here are some newer pictures of the babies.  They're all doing wonderfully and blessed Aaron and I with lots of sleep last night.  They were in their beds by about 10pm and everyone but Grant slept until nearly 7am!!!! Grant woke up around 4 or so, but quickly went back to sleep next to me.  It was heaven (note: this post has taken me a couple of days to write...I'm my 3rd day into it and happy to update that the babies have slept this way for the last 3 nights!!!!!).  There are a few more pictures of Grant b/c I FINALLY have gotten some good ones of him.  We recently pulled out the bumbos and the babies seem to really like sitting up in them.  Owen likes them, too.  :o)

Grant

Grant enjoying his bumbo

Owen, Bailey, and Grant

Owen and Grant

Mayleah in her hat

Owen taking a bath (his words) outside with his truck.  Yes, he's fully clothed.  But he had lots of fun!

Mason's new trick -- sucking his thumb.  For about a week you could find him with his thumb in his mouth a few times a day but it hasn't happened in a few days now.  Maybe it was just a phase???

Last Friday, I was able to get out with Owen to the zoo.  We met my friend Christi there and had a wonderful day.  It was just gorgeous weather and very nice to be able to spend some time with Owen and Christi.  Owen frequently talks about elephants -- he says he's afraid of them (we're pretty sure this is b/c of a Thomas episode where Henry the train gets pushed out of a tunnel by an elephant -- he talks about this ALL the time!) but he wasn't too afraid to touch this one at the zoo on Friday.  Owen, Christi and I all thought it was pretty cool to get close enough to touch an elephant.  We also got to ride the train at the zoo -- definitely the highlight of the day for Owen.

Owen on the train at the zoo.

On Tuesday, I took all the babies to my office for the first time.  They all did wonderfully.  Mason slept the entire time and Mayleah and Grant were mostly happy and awake while there.  Mayleah got a little cranky towards the end of our visit, but that was only because she was tired.  It was great to get to see all my colleagues at work.  I miss you all, but I'm still not ready to come back!  

As I type this post, all the babies are asleep and have been for over an hour.  I think we might finally be getting into a synchronized schedule!!!!!  (lord, I hope I didn't just jinx it!!!) This has happened a few days in a row and that coupled with the long stretches of sleep at night have made all the difference in the world.  While it's still hard work to take care of 3 babies and a 2 year old, it's getting to be more fun now that we're sleeping a bit better and the babies are starting to smile and coo at us every day.  

To make this post even more of a mish-mash...I found some pictures of me from when I was little earlier today.  Here are pictures of me and Owen at 2 years old....

What do you think?  See any resemblance?  I also have a picture of me at 6 months that I'll post in another post to compare with Owen at that age and the babies now.   I need to see if I can get some pictures of Aaron at those ages, too (got any for me, Andy?).

Babies are stirring....gotta go for now.  hope it won't be another 2 weeks before I get to post again.