Chez Perky

Conjunction Junction

Well, we may not be up to conjunctions and grammar yet, but I would be remiss as a mother if I didn't mention the huge strides that my kids have been making in the speech/language development department.  Especially the girls, as has been the trend, of course. 

On March 2nd, Ellie was in the hospital (as many of you may recall) and I was talking to a nurse or doctor and Ellie (who had been refusing food most of the time she was in the hospital) was standing in her crib reaching out toward the bedside table where there was a sleeve of Ritz Crackers (one of her favorite snacks) saying "Cacka! Cacka!"  She said it in such a soft, sweet little voice that it took a couple minutes for me to realize what was going on.

"Oh my goodness!  You want a Cracker!  You can have all the crackers you want, little girl!" 

And she did gobble down those crackers, like a ravenous little fiend.   She knew what she wanted, and she clearly communicated it.  And thus, a first word was born. 

Well, that's not really fair.  I'd posted before that she had said "mama" before.  And it's true, she had.  But just as quickly as she started saying Mama, she stopped (a few days later).  And she hasn't said it since.  It took Ellie a long time to say anything other than cracker, in fact.

But Ellie does now have a nice little array of words - "Cracker", "Cup", "Up", "Abba" (meaning "father" in Hebrew - though I'm not sure she really knows what that one means, she does seem to use that one rather randomly), "Ball", and um, that might be it.  I'm sure Seth will let me know if I'm missing any.

In April, Abby started to follow suit.  The difference between Abby and Ellie, though, is that Ellie speaks extemporaneously - if there's something she wants she says the word (assuming she knows the word).  But she never imitates sounds just for the sake of imitating sounds.  She's not a mynah bird the way a lot of children are when they first start talking.  Abby's first clear words, however, were obviously imitation, though, as you'll see...

Each day, when I walk in the door, the triplets are usually playing in the sunroom with SuperNanny.  When I walk in, I am generally accosted by three loving babies who are eager for a hug, a kiss, or (most importantly) my cell phone or car keys.  I always exclaim "Hi Babies!"  One day in April, Abby whispered (with a devilish little grin on her face), "Hi Babies" after I greeted them. 

Wait, what?  Did she just say what I think she just said?

"Hi Babies!" I said again.
"Hi Babies!" she whispered with a grin.

Whoa.  Seriously?  That's your first word(s)?  Neat!

So Abby imitates, but for a long time would not say anything extemporaneously.

Ellie started doing this thing where every time she had a ball she would throw it up in the air while saying "Up!" (something her speech therapist taught her) and Abby started imitating that.  But now Abby will casually say "Up" whenever she sees a ball.  Once Abby said Piglet (but that was, again, imitating us calling Piglet by his name). 

The girls are definitely improving on receptive language skills as well.  They will point to their noses (or mine) if I ask where their nose is.  Abby will point out Piglet's nose as well.  They will follow very, very simple instructions ("bring that to mommy!").  And Abby (and to a certain extent Ellie as well) is very receptive to the emotional needs of her siblings - if they are upset, she will bring them their loveys. 

Sam?  Well, Sam's not talking.  But he lets us know what he needs.  He's taken to SHRIEKING (make that SCREAMING) in the middle of the night if he wakes up and discovers that his pacifier is missing.  This is a new and definitely undesirable behaviour, as far as I'm concerned.  Gah.  If he wants to be picked up, he'll stand there with his arms raised grunting.  No question what he wants.  But if you want him to follow a simple instruction, you must use far more visual cues with him than the girls need.  The girls still need more visual cues than other kids their age, but Sam needs visual cues for virtually all instructions.  Still, he has definitely made progress - it used to be that he couldn't follow an instruction even with a visual cue.  And he is now responding to his name (he turns his head) and will stop what he's doing if you say, "No, Sam!" in a stern voice.  Whether it's the words or the inflection he is understanding, I'm not sure, but either way, it is progress.

We are still getting their hearing checked on May 20th, because they are still behind on receptive and expressive language, and while no one believes there's anything wrong with their hearing, it's a good rule-it-out step and it is non-invasive.  So we'll have all kinds of fun with that.  Umm.  Yeah.  Something like that.

Some day, I'm sure I'm going to wonder why I ever wanted them to talk.  :) 

I do remember that at their 18 month appointment, the pediatrician remarked that it was probably a testament to their underlying personalities that they aren't having far more temper tantrums and fits, because with the language delays that they're having and the fact that they are otherwise developmentally on target, this can be very frustrating for them to not be able to communicate their needs.  While they DO throw fits, they aren't constant and they are very predictable and generally happen not as a result of communication failures, but as a sign that bedtime/naptime is looming.

Yep, I just have really, really good kids.  I'm one lucky mom.

In Happier News...

Ellie-bean seems to be trying to say her first word!  She now waves "bye-bye" (FINALLY) and while she's waving she says "aye-aye" in exactly the right intonation to sound like when I say "bye-bye".  She is definitely copying us saying "bye-bye."  She's using it in context, and consistently, so it is for SURE her first word!  Neat, huh?

Clapping

Sam and Ellie can clap now! Abby can't clap yet, but she's willing to try the one-handed-clap! :)

(note if you're getting this via email subscription, you probably need to go to the blog to see the embedded video)

Ellie Bellie Ballerina

My beautiful, graceful girl hasn't had a whole lot of firsts... she's had a lot of lasts, actually. She was the last to get the okay to be discharged from the NICU (though they were all discharged on the same night). She was the last to come off a heart monitor. She was the last to stand. The last to crawl.

She was, however, the first to take a STEP! The very first to make that first move toward walking.

Oh my!

Toothapalooza

How did that happen? Ellie has six toofuses. Poof! She was so funny, because she had this snaggle tooth - this one tooth on top that was way longer than the others since it had come in first, and I was looking today bemonaning the fact that it was less snaggly than it used to be since the others were catching up and *poof* I realized there were *four* teeth on top, not three!

When did that happen? How did I miss it? Was I seriously not paying attention to my baby? She's so quiet about teething compared to the other two that it's hard to notice when she has teeth popping out, but this isn't just a tooth barely cutting through, it's way out there - I completely missed it! Whoops! Now each of my babies has six whole teeth! That's 18 toofuses. That's a whole lot of chompers. Here's a very blurry picture of Ellie's new found chompers:

An Experiment

We had an experiment today. It wasn't a total disaster or anything, but I thought Abby might deck me a coupla times:

Yeah, I said I wasn't going to have anything to do with solid food until after Passover...and I meant it. But see, I had these avocados and bananas that were not going to last if they hung around too much longer, and well...

Actually what really happened was that I was concerned about Ellie because she's back to not gaining weight particularly well, and I thought the fat from the avocado would be good for her if I could get it into her. She didn't mind the food, but I can't say we got much into her. I also tried some banana, thinking she might like something sweet, but honestly, I think she liked the avocado better. Either way, I gotta say, it was a whole lot of effort for not a lot of success, and the truth is, Ellie was positively STARVING later, so I'm not sure that's really the answer. Ounce for ounce, breastmilk has more concentrated calories than any solid food, and since we fortify her milk to 28 calories per ounce, all the more so. My guess is that solid food is not the magical answer to Ellie's weight gain.

Well, Sam woke up while I was feeding Ellie, so we tried it with him too. He didn't take well to it immediately and at first he just pushed everything right out of his mouth. He didn't seem to mind the taste, but he definitely still had the reflext that causes babies to push things right back out of their mouths when it gets put in there. So I put some bananas on my finger and let him suck on it and then tried the same with avocado. He was all for that, and he also didn't mind sucking down milk served on a spoon, so once he figured all that out, he did a reasonably good job with food on a spoon, though he made a MUCH bigger mess than Ellie did (but all things considered, he also probably consumed a lot more than she did, so I'm not surprised by the difference in mess).

Though my original plan had been only to try Ellie with some avocado and banana today, since I'd ended up with 2 out of 3, it seemed only fair to try Abby with some food also once she woke up from HER nap. After all, she's the only one of the three that's shown ANY signs that she might be getting close to being remotely developmentally ready for solid food (and even then, I still think they're not entirely ready, so there!). Well, Abby wasn't sure just WHAT to think about the experiment, and I have to say, I'm not sure what to think either.

So it wasn't a total disaster, but I have to admit, I'm not eager to repeat the experiment any time soon. It took freaking FOREVER to feed them, and they were all positively STARVING later, especially Ellie (and she's the one I'm worried about). It didn't make as huge a mess as I'd been worried about (but then again, I didn't use the dreaded rice cereal...ick). I contained them in the bumbo seat (with tray, though the tray wasn't strictly necessary)...though Seth just held Ellie in his lap when we fed her, which was easy enough. I think it would have been harder if we'd been trying to deal with high chairs, so I'm not sorry I don't have high chairs yet. For now, I'm okay with it being a one-time experiment that we can play around with some other time in the future, but I don't feel some compelling need to do this again tomorrow. I did freeze a bunch of mushed banana and avocado in an ice cube tray, though, just in case.

And yes, I know I TOTALLY broke that rule about introducing only one food at a time, so don't even worry about telling me that one. Neither banana nor avocado is considered a high-allergy food which is why they're both considered excellent first foods. Plus, we Americans get far too ridiculous about our approach to solid foods. I refuse to make myself any more neurotic about this than I already am. I have no concerns that any of the three is going to have an allergic reaction to either banana or avocado, so I feel absolutely no regret about serving them both on the same day.

And hey, if you have nothing but free time on your hands, here's the whole pile of pictures from the grand experiment, because, well, WHY NOT? Enjoy!

Wary of Milestones

What happened to my tiny little babies? My tiny helpless babies who were not even remotely threatening to become mobile EVER? My tiny, quiet babies who never made a peep?

When the babies were in the NICU, their cries sounded like kittens mewing. It was cute, even, and it never lasted more than a few seconds. The never moved much, even unswaddled. They would stare into space, and they'd look for me if they heard my voice, but beyond that, they didn't do much. Still, I thought they were just the bees knees. I mean, most people probably didn't think they were all that interesting, but I sure did. Was I complaining that they weren't smiling yet? No. Was I complaining that they weren't running and jumping yet? No. Was I complaining that they weren't winning any debate competitions yet? Was I complaining that they weren't writing their dissertations yet? No. Was I complaining that they hadn't yet made their first million? N-.. er... maybe, but that's just because I wasn't sure what the hospital bills were going to look like...as it turns out, insurance covered the full cost of their NICU stay.

Still, grow they must, and my babies are certainly growing. Abby started smiling in early January and Ellie followed soon thereafter. Sam didn't like the nickname Smiley, which we'd given him before he had a name. His revenge was that he refused to smile until February, but now he's the smiliest of them all and giggles and squeals along with his big gummy grins. They are all cooing and giggling and smiling and squealing like normal babies now. Abby grabs for toys, and this morning instead of drinking her bottle, she played with my hair - completely fascinated - for a full 20 minutes. They have discovered that there are many things in this world that are far more interesting than the inside of a pack n' play or their cribs and they want to know all about it!

Unfortunately, Sam's figured out that he'll learn much more about the big wide world if he can move into more of it. To that end, the big guy rolled over Tuesday night from his back to his tummy. He didn't like it much, because that landed him on his tummy and if there's one thing my babies hate, it's tummy time. But he must not have hated it too much, because the next morning while playing in his crib, he did it again! And I missed it both times, darnit (I saw the result, but not the actual action). And by golly, that little stinker keeps doing it, and keeps doing it when I'm not around. That's okay, because I'm not eager to confirm that it's any more than a fluke, because rolling over... well, gosh, rolling over is just the first step (no pun intended) toward mobility and then my life will become H-E-double-hockey-sticks!

Can you imagine? I can, and it's not going to be pretty. In fact, this might be worse than the dreaded transition to solid food!*

Dear Lord in Heaven, HELP ME!

* (Which, by the way, I've pretty much decided can wait until after Passover when they're closer to 6 months adjusted... so there!)

6 month Check Up

Last Wednesday, the triplets had their six month check up. I'm still astounded that we've made it this far, to be honest. All the sleepless nights, the weeks of worry over Ellie's weight gain (or lack thereof), the weeks in the NICU, not to mention the months of pre-term labour... I just can't believe my babies are six months old. I gave my nanny the afternoon off and took the babies to the appointment myself. That was my first mistake. I mean, I've taken the babies to nearly all of their appointments by myself (I had help for their 4 month appointment, but that's because I couldn't stay for the whole thing because I had to leave when they started their vaccines so I could get to my first day of work). So I didn't really think anything of going by myself to this appointment. But this time when I left the house, it was drizzling, and by the time I got to the doctor's office it was POURING DOWN RAIN.

My doctor's office is about to move locations, but the current location has sucky parking and lousy stroller access. The office suite itself can't accommodate the triple stroller (the new office suite will be able to without a problem), which is fine because I hate putting the triple stroller in the car (you have to take the wheels off to get it to fit in the van, that's how huge the stupid thing is!). I usually take the double snap n' go and then baby bjorn the third baby, which is no problem at all when it's not raining, but is a little trickier when it's POURING DOWN RAIN. Ugh. It doesn't leave me with a hand free for an umbrella (not that an umbrella would do much good with the horizontal rain that was happening that day), and oh, by the way, I don't have a rain cover for the snap n go (do they even MAKE rain covers that fit the double snap n go? For that matter, do they make rain covers for the triple strollers?). I had to park in just about the furthest parking space away from the door that will accommodate a stroller and run through the rain with a baby strapped to my chest. Ugh! I was a total disaster by the time I got to the receptionist's desk. For those of you who know me in person, you know this is a great travesty for me... one thing I PRIDE myself on is that despite the fact that I have four children, I still manage to keep myself together in public, at least. But I stood there dripping like a wet poodle, apologizing for being 2 minutes late for my appointment (I would have been on time, had I not been trying to navigate the parking lot puddles... I have NEVER been late to an appointment...yet another thing I've always prided myself on!).

But we muddled through, wet poodles are the new black, you know. For some reason, they didn't have a nurse come back with me to take initial weights, lengths and head circumferences, but had an office aid doing that. She's young and pretty and sweet, but not so bright and she stood there rather helplessly as I got the babies undressed. The nurses, see, the nurses jump in and help. Or at least hold a baby while I get the next one undressed. Sigh. Anyway, it was a long, drawn-out, painful task, but EVENTUALLY everyone got weighed and measured:
Sam: 14 pounds, 7 ounces; 24 inches long
Ellie: 11 pounds, 14 ounces; 23.5 inches long
Abby: 12 pounds, 10 ounces; 23.5 inches long
I put a blanket down on the floor, plopped all the babies down on the blanket and sat down and played with them until the doctor arrived. I've found this is the easiest way to control the craziness in the doctor's office. They're not big enough to crawl away, but they're big enough that they don't love being cooped up in their car seats for too long, so it's a good compromise.

This was the triplets' first well-visit with Dr. F. Sam and Ellie both saw him the previous week for an ear infection and suspected ear infection, respectively, but he'd never met Abby before. Julian adores Dr. F, so I already knew I liked him. I absolutely love his demeanor with kids and he's great with parents too, which, to me, is the mark of a good doctor... being good with both the kids AND the parents! He was impressed that the babies are getting mostly breastmilk still. I told him I was a blubbery mess the day I first gave them their first ounce of formula and he told me not to be silly - no tears allowed - I'm doing a great job. Dr. F. has six kids and I told him I don't know how he handles it, but he pointed out that six singletons (his range from 18 years down to I think 22 months) are not as hard as triplets. I wouldn't know, of course, having never had six singletons.

He said all the kids look great. They're all on target for their adjusted age... they're roughly the equivalent of normal four month olds and they are right on target. Abby's maybe even a little ahead of the curve in some ways - yay for her! He reiterated that Sam should be "able" to sleep through the night, but I think it's crap, to be honest. And I don't really MIND feeding him through the night if that's what he needs (or wants, for that matter), so I'm all good there. The topic he DID broach that I don't want ANYTHING to do with was... oh gosh, can I even say it?... solid food. Gah! I know, I know. There's no good reason to be terrified of solid food, right? I should be excited to move on to a new stage in my babies' lives, right? But I'm not ready! And frankly, I'm not convinced that they're ready! Yes, they're six months old, but they're only four months, developmentally-speaking. So there!

Why am I having such serious panic attacks about this? WHY? I don't know, but I swear to you, I'm having all-out-anxiety-ridden-complete-hyperventilating panic attacks about this. Can you imagine the logistics of dealing with spoons and bowls and solid food and messes and chairs and all that crap with three babies? THREE BABIES? My triplet mama friends CAN imagine, and I'm afraid to even ASK what kind of disaster my life is about to turn into. My house is already suffering from the neglect and I'm not sure how much more it can take, to be honest. I'm not sure how much more I can take! (I'm a neat freak at heart, even though my house is not proving it at the moment - gah!) Anyway, the doctor said it's perfectly fine to wait until after Pesach (Passover) to start dealing with solid food, which is good, because I definitely can't handle it before then.

The funny thing is that every time I think of rice cereal or oatmeal or anything like that, I have a serious panic attack. But if I think about just mashing up some banana or avocado, I think, "hey, that wouldn't be so bad...maybe I'll try that next week..." Except, I don't know that I want to open that can of worms! Gah! I told you... it's totally irrational, all-out panic attacks! (I never claimed to be rational. And hey, did you know there's no medical reason I have to give my kids rice cereal? Somehow, that calms me down. I don't know why rice cereal is giving me a panic attack, but IT IS! And so, I think we'll be skipping rice cereal all together and moving straight to bananas and avocados and oh, other stuff. But probably not until after Pesach, because seriously... I can't handle any more mess in my life!)

But anyway, other than the solid food panic attack that I had in the office, the visit went well. The babies look great. The doctor was impressed with how well they're doing. He asked how we were coping. He noted that this was the first time ever that he'd seen a mother bring in six-month old triplets all by herself (score one for me! ... I'm not the only triplet mama they've got either; they've got I think 8 or 9 sets of triplets and a set of quadruplets in the office). He thinks I'm doing an amazing job (I am, thankyouverymuch!). Sam and Abby don't have to go back until June (well, Abby went back today for her last Synagis shot, but she doesn't have to go back for a well-visit until June). Ellie needs to go back in April for a weight check.

Ellie, I noticed, had lost a little weight by Friday, which had me a little jumpy. By Monday, she was down to 11 pounds, 8 ounces. If she's not on an upward trend by the end of the week, I'll take her back in on Monday for a weight check, but I know if I bring her in now, Dr. B. will just tell me to keep an eye on her, so that's what I'll do for now. In other news, she's a super-smiley girl and she still has the longest baby tongue on the planet. She loves to stick it out and she loves to get kisses. Lately, she's been quite vocal and has taken to making loud, screechy noises when she's happy.

Sunday night, Sam actually slept most of the night! He only woke up once and then went back to his crib sometime thereafter. Oh, did I mention that we recently separated Ellie and Sam? They used to share a crib, but I kept finding Sam on top of Ellie, and while Ellie didn't seem to mind (it didn't wake her up at all), it was making me nervous. So now they sleep in separate cribs. It's kind of sad for me. :( My babies are growing up and becoming more independent! *sniff* Other things about Sam... he definitely knows who his mama is. If I come home for lunch, he gets SO excited and practically leaps out of the nanny's arms to get to me, even if he's in the middle of drinking a bottle. He wants mama! He knows where food is supposed to come from and he will stop at nothing to get it! :) That's my smart boy. He giggles and smiles and loves to play. He is the only one who's even close to being on the growth charts (you have to be in the 5th percentile to be considered "on the charts"... he's in the 3rd percentile for weight)

Abba-dabba is super-sweet. She loves to play on her activity mat and thinks that people were put on this earth to entertain her. She has a hard time drinking her bottle because she spends the entire time smiling and making googly eyes at whomever is feeding her. She will reach out to pull the bottle closer to her, but lately has mostly wanted to play with the bottle rather than drink from it. I'm shocked that she's still growing because she eats the least of all three of the babies, and lately has been refusing to eat more and more often. Hopefully this will not be a permanent trend. She is the one baby that has me questioning whether I should be thinking more seriously about solid food, because she's the one I think might actually consider eating it without causing me too much heartburn. We'll see.

A Milestone?

Wednesday night, right on cue, Sam started screaming, as per usual. Seth brought him to me, good husband and father that he is, to be fed, but Sam was having none of that. What? MY son wasn't eating? MY son refusing to nurse? He was flailing around, and desperate, and clearly hungry and he would try to eat, but then would burst out screaming, poor thing. It was the middle of the night, so I knew I had plenty of milk, so that wasn't the problem. Although laying down normally isn't an issue, I tried sitting up with him, but that didn't work either. I tried the other side. I tried another position. Nothing helped. He tried on and off to eat for three hours. My poor baby...so unlike him. I've almost never known Sam to refuse to eat, especially when he was so obviously hungry!

Finally, exhausted, he cried himself to sleep in my arms. Good timing, too, because it was time to feed Ellie. We put him back in the crib and I fed Ellie, who had no problems eating (so obviously my milk wasn't the problem, thank heavens). Eventually, I got up and got ready for the day. When Nanny Extraordinaire arrived for the day, she got the babies ready for bathtime and she started with Sam, who loves the bath. And, sure enough, he got in the bath and giggled and giggled.

Until, that is, she tried to clean around his ears, and then he started to scream bloody murder! Amazingly, as soon as she stopped touching around his ears, he stopped screaming, but if she started again, he started screaming again. Coincidence? I think not!

Something like 90% of children will have an ear infection by age 2. J, at age 4, has never had an ear infection. So I don't know WHAT to do with an ear infection! So, despite having just missed a day of work due to being sick, and despite the fact that I still felt crappy and was likely to miss most of the rest of of the day anyway, I realized that I should probably at least CALL the pediatrician's office and let them decide whether Sam should be seen. I figured they'd say to just keep an eye on it for a day or two, but to my surprise, they said to bring him in. I conferred with Jess who confirmed my theory that it was unlikely that they would treat it, even if it turned out that Sam DID have an ear infection, but she said that the doctor's office still likes to see what's going on so that they've got a baseline in case it doesn't clear up on its own. This made sense to me, so I made arrangements to take him in.

Of course, when I GOT to the office, Sam was all smiles and giggles, the little rat. I saw Dr. F (Dr. B wasn't available, and I love Dr. F, so it's all good). He came into the room and I said, "Wouldn't you know it, Sam's all smiley now!"
"Well, that makes things easy for me! Makes you look like a fool, but it's all good for me," he joked back at me. "Seriously, what's going on?"

Dr. F even tugged on his ears with no response other than giggles from Sam. It was infuriating! (I mean, I'm all for Sam not having any problem at all! But could he PLEASE not make me look like the over-reactive first-time mom? I mean... all three triplets had their FIRST COLD last week and I was SO PROUD of myself for not completely freaking out and calling the pediatrician's office immediately! Actually, Dr. F said he was proud of me for that, too...he said he would have called! Hah!) So anyway, he tried to look in Sam's ear, but couldn't see anything, so he disappeared to get a funky looking tool to help clean out the gunk from the ear. While he was gone, I lightly brushed against Sam's ear and Sam screamed bloody murder and it took several minutes to calm him down! Gah!

Well, to make a long story short (too late, I know!), Sam probably DOES have an ear infection and probably perforated his ear drum. It's only "probably" because with all the pus between the ear canal and the ear drum, Dr. F couldn't see down to the ear drum. Yum! In light of the likely perforation, they ARE treating the infection with antibiotics, even though under normal circumstances, they'd leave it alone. Fortunately, Sam LIKES the amoxicillin (it's really a good thing J never gets sick because he won't take medicine of any kind and never has). And last night, miracle or miracles: he only woke up to eat ONCE.

Other Milestones!

• Ellie is almost 11 pounds. She still carries the diagnosis "Failure to Thrive" and can't seem to take in enough feedings to eliminate the calorie fortification. She's still well below where she should be on the growth chart, but at least she's finally moving in a positive direction TOWARD the growth chart! I'm so proud of her. I am no longer obsessively taking her weight before and after every feeding, because she pretty consistently gets 4-6 ounces per breastfeeding session. I just spot-check her now.
  
• Abby has stopped being terribly interested in eating on a strict schedule. She always gets her minimum 6 feedings per day, but first thing in the morning what she wants is to play. She instead loads up on feedings toward the end of the day. If she gets six feedings in by 7pm, she sleeps until around 3am. If she has only had 5 feedings by 7pm, she sleeps until 11pm eats her 6th feeding then and then sleeps until 5am. She knows exactly what she wants, and she gets it. We've JUST moved her to 5oz feedings, and she is reluctantly taking it. 4oz wasn't quite enough, but she probably would prefer 4.5oz feedings. In contrast, both of the other babies are now taking SIX ounce feedings!
  
• Another Abby milestone... she can now almost sit by herself unassisted. If you sit her up in your lap, she doesn't wobble much and she can hold herself upright for several minutes without toppling over. She's the first to do that.
  
• Sam is very giggly. Though Abby occasionally giggles and Ellie is very smiley and coos a lot, Sam is definitely the giggliest of the bunch. It's very cute. He's also the biggest, by far.
  
• The babies turn six whole months next Wednesday. They have their six month check up with Dr. F that day. It's the first time one of their well-visits is with someone other than Dr. B. I'm branching out! (Seriously, I adore Dr. F almost as much as I adore Dr. B, so I don't mind branching out a little... but it is a milestone of sorts for me, because I was pretty determined NOT to branch out!)