First Thanksgiving & First Snow for the Girls

We got back today after being in Binghamton for a week for the Thanksgiving holiday. My mom and I drove together with the girls on Saturday and then Dennis arrived on Wednesday after work. My parents had their work cut out for them helping me with all the feedings (3 solid meals a day on top of bottles). I am still nursing but the babies get bottles as well. The nights were hard without having Dennis by my side when a baby (or 2 or 3) would wake up, but my parents were such a huge help and it was nice to have more hands during the day. The girls were showered with attention and love from 2 sets of grandparents, great grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins and friends all week. It was great to see so many people and to be able to get out a couple of nights.

The girls enjoyed looking out the window to watch the birds and their first snowfall with "Pop Pop". They had lots of fun with the Sullivan/West kids and Madison and Robby Baxter. They loved their baths in the kitchen sink (especially the big bubble bath when Pop Pop put in too much soap) and all the floor space to roll around (and scoot) on. Molly's first tooth came through during our stay in Binghamton as well. So exciting! She makes the cutest expressions with her mouth as I think she likes feeling the tooth. Molly and Madeline are getting around so much now between their rolling and scooting. Tess gets from her back to her stomach easily but gets stuck or else just prefers to stay in that position. She sticks her arms out to the side and looks as if she is flying...so funny. We call this her Superman position.
They are still doing pretty well with the solid foods and have almost tried all the fruits and vegetables. Molly is the best eater in terms of being quick and clean. Sometimes you can't get the food in fast enough for her. Madeline is a good eater but is the messiest by far. She loves to put her hands in her mouth with the food and grab onto the spoon. Tess is hit or miss and is on the slower side but she enjoys sitting in her high chair. She really loves her bananas most of all. We actually have the Spacesaver chairs that go right into the dining room chairs and they are great. Dennis parents bought one for us to keep up in Binghamton as well which was great to have.
So, the girls had their first Thanksgiving and it was a really nice day. I took Tess over to the Reyen's for a bit because the others were sleeping (Molly was having a nice snooze on Dennis stomach). Then we had my mom's side of the family over to my parents house for dinner. It was a hectic day with trying to coordinate naps and feedings and I was feeling really out of it from sleep deprivation. But, it was a really special day and such a different Thanksgiving with all the babies in the house.

The girls adjusted pretty well to their new surroundings for the week but they didn't sleep great. Well, I should say that Madeline was up to her old tricks with crying a lot going down and waking up during the night which we thought we had kicked prior to leaving for Binghamton. So, my parents didn't get much sleep because you can hear her loud and clear with her high pitched cry. It was a bit of musical cribs all week trying to figure out what the best sleeping arrangements were. Before Carolynn/Steve/Henry were in town we had Madeline in her own room. When they came to town, we were afraid to put them all in one room for fear of them all getting woken up if Madeline cried during the night. So, we had Madeline and Tess together with me and my parents graciously took Molly in their room. She did great but Madeline still kept my parents and I up but luckily Molly and Tess slept through her crying even though they were in the same room. We had only one night where all three slept through the night and that was Thanksgiving night. It was fabulous. Although my poor parents didn't even get to enjoy it because they had decided at 9pm that night to ensure themselves of a good nights sleep and checked into a hotel. They had their bags packed, a bottle of wine, bottles of water and turkey sandwiches and were off to enjoy a good nights sleep. We felt terrible that we had taken over the house so much to the point where they had to get a hotel room!! They are amazing what they do for us.

So, we were able to purchase a new minivan...the Toyota Sienna and we love it. It was so nice to have it for the trip back because my mom and I could sit back there with the girls and entertain them once they started fussing. It will be nice some day to use the DVD feature too. It was kind of bittersweet to say goodbye to our 4Runner and former life.
On the Soap Opera front, I have a couple of pictures to post below that someone sent me from an ABC website. These scenes either got cut or haven't aired yet because we have not seen them.
Looking forward to getting back in the swing of things in the comfort of our own home this week and hoping the girls do well tonight!!


Tess

Molly (I think)

Molly

Molly

Molly

A Schedule - Finally

We had a very informative doctor's appointment yesterday where they got their flu shots and we were given a lot of next steps for the babies. We are now going to be starting them on sipping water from a cup, increasing their solid food intake to larger quantities/more variety/3 meals a day, feeding them finger food as a snack, and not feeding them anymore at night. The doctor said we should not feed them prior to 6am and need to just let them cry it out during their night wakings. I told her how much we were struggling with getting sleep because they were waking at different times in the night and sometimes crying hard and for long periods where we felt forced to feed them (mostly Madeline). The last two weeks had just been so rough with only getting 1-2hours of sleep at a time and them waking each other up. She was convinced that it was becoming a habit and we needed to not "let them run the household". By increasing their food intake, we can be even more assured that they are not hungry during the night so that is what we will do. Last night went pretty well for the most part. Tess slept like a champ until 7am where we actually woke her up, Madeline cried every couple of hours but we tried to block it out by closing her door (she sleeps alone in the nursery) and our door and she got her self back to sleep. Only one time did I go in and just readjusted her and rubbed her back and she fell back to sleep. Molly woke up a couple times and one of the times she was getting pretty loud so we moved her portable crib into the kitchen (yes, the kitchen b/c we have no more rooms) so she wouldn't wake up Tess. She seemed to sleep pretty good out there. They all got up for the day around 6:45am so that was really nice. Since then, we have had them on a great schedule all day with incorporating the meals, bottles, play time and naps and so far so good.

Here are the stats at their 6 month check-up:
Molly: 13 pounds, 3 ounces
Madeline: 13 pounds, 1 ounce
Tess: 13 pounds, 2 ounces
They are all exactly 24 1/2 inches.

I've been updating the post below with the scenes that the girls have been appearing in on One Life to Live for those that have been watching. It has been pretty fun watching them on TV. We had a great time in the city last Saturday night. When we arrived, they gave us each a glass of champagne and then we sat at the swanky hotel bar. We had dinner at The Mercer and spent the rest of the night in SOHO at some fun places. We slept until 10am (I was still up a lot during the night...habit I guess) and then enjoyed a great breakfast before heading back to Hoboken. My parents on the other hand experienced the joy of waking up all night with the girls...yikes. But, they survived and we are so thankful for their help to give us a night off.

The girls have really been doing great with eating solids. So far we have tried rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, and bananas. Here are some pictures of Halloween and them eating:

... 3 Peas in a Pod with Grandma Burns:

Maddy:

Henry:

Eating

Tess:

Molly:

Maddy:

Hanging around the house:

Molly:

Maddy:

Tess watching the street activity:

Henry and the Girls:

Happy 1/2 Birthday to the Girls

Well, we've made it to the six month mark today! They are getting cuter and cuter every day and are so much fun right now with their personalities starting to shine and all their smiles and giggles. It is neat watching them become more active and wanting to move around and sit up and put weight on their legs. It has been a challenging week with trying to get them to nap without their pacifiers and to sleep through the night without giving them the pacifiers if they wake up. They've been able to go to sleep without them for a long time but when they wake up in the middle of the night we've sometimes given them the pacifier to keep them from crying. They started using them less and less naturally so we thought it was a good time to just make a clean break so that they can sleep better overall and learn to self soothe themselves. The doctor also suggested we do this at 6 months so here we are. I've also started to wean Madeline from her 2am feeding this week which has been rough.

Dennis and I are celebrating the 6 month mark by spending our first night away from the girls in NYC. It will be hard to be away from them but we are really looking forward to a good nights sleep and a night out on the town. My parents have graciously offered to spend the night with the girls so we are crossing our fingers it won't be too rough for them.

For those that have been tuning into One Life to Live this week, we apologize for having to sit through an hour long soap opera and not seeing the girls. As you could tell, it was a fake baby doll they used for the dead baby scenes (which was a good thing) and they didn't really show the alive baby yet. Today's episode showed Tess briefly but the episode was interrupted for Obama's speech so we're not sure if they showed any more of them. It will be repeated on SoapNet tonight at 9pm so we can tape it and watch the last 20 minutes that was cut out today. There will be more scenes with them next week per the below list of air dates so keep watching (if you can bear it).

I'll have to get some pictures downloaded/posted of them on Halloween where my mom turned their stroller into a large pea pod and the girls were 3 peas in a pod. It was pretty cute. I am not "crafty" at all so good thing Grandma Burns came to the rescue. We missed the big parade for the kids because we were at the soap but when we got back into town we strolled them around Hoboken where there were a million kids out trickortreating.

Hope everyone is off to a great weekend!

One Life to Live Promo

Here is the promo commercial running that features Molly...