4 months old

My poor blog - I really have been neglecting it. And I know I'm going to regret it because lately I've been counting on my blog to have all kinds of information about Kiernan in his first year. And if I'm disappointed I missed out on weights and stories for him, I'm going to be really disappointed on what I've kept track of for the twins. :P

So here is a quick update for posterity.

At their four month appointments Juliette weighed 12 lbs 13 oz and Quinn weighed 15 lbs 13 oz. Three pounds bigger! And let me tell you - you can feel it!!

Quinn is wearing all kinds of clothing I had Kiernan in when he was walking, and I looked back and Kiernan was 18 lbs when he started walking so it's not shocking. I am very curious to see if Quinn continues being so much bigger than his brother always has been.

Juliette is the one who has more control over her body - not shocking to me since Q has so much more weight to heft around. She holds herself very similarly to Kiernan and has the same kind of straight posture. She holds herself up well on her arms, scootches forward if you leave her on her tummy for long, and can roll off her tummy to her back quite easily.

Both babies are pivoting like crazy and I often find them in a different spot than where I left them on the floor. So ya, I guess I can't leave them in the middle of a disaster zone anymore and go off for a pee and expect safety ;)

Quinn likes to sing. I was going to call it opera but Grandpapa seems to think that's a bit too generous. What do you think?


Both babies are extremely alert and happy babies. It still astounds me that I can leave them on the floor, playmat, exersaucer, etc for lengthy periods of time and just have them be content. Although I am often tired, overall I still maintain that these two babies are less work than Kiernan was on his own. That being said, I find myself a lot more housebound because they nap better and nap best at home. Also, I can't rely on them falling asleep in the car or stroller the way Kiernan did and therefore can't justify the outings quite as easily.

Nights are a whole other issue that you may find out about if I get around to blogging it ;) Hopefully I will. It involves me making an appointment with a realtor though. hehe.

And lastly, here is a photo of me with the 3 kiddos that I really like. It's not necessarily a fab photos of any of the children, but it represents how I view myself at this time in my life (which I'm happy with)

Being three

Kiernan turned 3 just over a week ago - did I even blog about it or did I forget?

Either way, three he turned and suddenly he's different. He's doing all kinds of things that are so "big boy" and are a blend of hilarious, cute, and/or downright irritating.

Bed time is now hit or miss. He's decided he's not tired at bedtime and would like to stay up later. And he's getting creative. After his usual bedtime routine as we try to leave we get a lot of
"mommy! mommy! wait wait wait!"
"yes Kiernan?"
"what goes up and down?"
"I need a drink of water"
"I want you to sleep with me!" (which I would actually do sometimes if it EVER worked. But it's just an excuse to get someone to lie down with him so he can climb over them, have them tell him stories and chat with)
"I love you!" (total points there for using the sentimental/make mom mushy card)

He's also negotiating and deal making. "If I eat two bites of dinner, I'm going to get to play games on mommy's computer"
Oh really? Who offered up this deal? ;)

And, especially with his new hair cut, he just looks older. Even as he's cracking jokes.

"okkk... I'm looking at you... take my picture...!"

Won't be long until they can share the same clothing!

Kiernan's not a big guy. Never has been and I think will likely continue to be on the small side for quite awhile until I'm sure he'll suddenly shoot up like a weed as I'm told his father and grandfather did. But I'm used to small guys. I'm used to clothing fitting for a year or longer. I'm used to most sizing on clothing being relatively accurate if not big for Kiernan. And Quinn... is not a little guy. According to the last time he got measured he's not a BIG guy (although I can't wait to find out what he weighs at his next appointment) but he's not at all like Kiernan. And so I'm having to pull out clothing that Kiernan wore way later for Q. Like later as in when he was walking and talking (which he did early, but still).
Here is a photo of Kiernan at 11 months old.

Quinn at 4 months old. A bit big, but certainly not outrageously.

I should start putting Juliette in Kiernan's old stuff just to get a better perspective ;)

(know what else is different? I took that photo because Quinn fell asleep in that chair by himself, cuz he was tired. By himself. Kiernan did that ONCE (and he was in my arms, I just wasn't bouncing) until he was over 1!)

The landfills thank you Kiernan

I like to think of Kiernan as my little genius. He walked early, he talked early, he's been impressing everyone since the getgo - that's my boy! When we finally sleep trained, things turned over in less than a week. When we moved him to his big boy room it was like flipping a switch. So I was fairly confident that when we started to potty train it would be smooth sailing. We started last February and it turned out.... Kiernan wasn't interested in potty training.
Sure, if you sat him on the potty every ten minutes, he'd pee for you. But that's not being potty trained, that's peeing on command. If he happened to feel like peeing when you hadn't thought to stick him on the potty then there wasn't going to be any effort to hold back. And pooping... well, Kiernan liked to poop in bed and was perfectly happy to wait until he had a diaper on at nap or bed time. We gave it a good solid try and then decided he just wasn't ready and went back to diapers.
I wasn't willing to start the process again when we were in the middle of new babies so nothing really happened on the potty training front again until July and then daycare really went gung ho with him and we were happy to work on it at home too.
Again, peeing on command was no problem. And we could even ask him every hour instead of every ten minutes, but he never ASKED to go pee. We were just catching him often enough that he generally wasn't peeing out. And the pooping... saving it for diapers still. This went on for weeks and then daycare managed to get him to poop in the potty and that was a great first step in the right direction. And then suddenly, a week and a half ago, it seems like the switch flipped! All of sudden it's working! We've been accident free in over a week! He asks to go pee whenever he needs to. Pooping is no longer an issue - in fact he's pretty gung ho on the whole thing.
We definitely tried to bribe him over the course of the whole process and it helped him get excited once he was really ready, but before that nothing we could offer him did it. He needed to decide on his own although we definitely all shoved him hard in the right direction to that decision :)
It's so nice to be down to only 2 kids in diapers. I dream of a day when I don't have to change so many bums any more ;)

*knock on wood*

Give me your best shot #3

Two knights hiding in the wilds of the cottage.

Another Peekaboo Beans cutie

My cutie in HIS Peekaboo Beans. (I'll post real content again soon. I think. I've got potty training updates and exciting things like that to talk about.)