36 Weeks (&5d)!

How Far Along: 36 weeks, according to me, but 36 weeks and 5 days according to my OB.


How Big is E: About 6 - 6.5 lbs! We'll get a better estimate at the docs today! Could be my LAST sonogram!


Symptoms: Contractions- I had awhile on Sunday where my contractions were between 3-8 minutes apart for about 4 hours. It made me a little bit nervous, but all and all, I was fine. Having many contractions a day but nothing different than I am used to!


Pain down my right leg, I can tell she must be hitting a nerve or something because it happens when she moves a certain way, just for a second.


Sleepy, weak and tired! It's hard caring for a family, being pregnant and trying to get everything prepared and done all day, every day.


Weight Gain: Well I'll be getting it checked today at the OB! At least somewhere around 157 lbs...ekk!


Emotions: Ok, getting so anxious and nervous, but so super excited that every day that passes is one more day closer to meeting E! Then that's when the roller coaster of emotions begin! Still having such a hard time dealing with leaving my girls while I am in the hospital, hating that so much. It's beyond painful for me but I know they will be in great hands and fine, it's just me with the emotions of it all.


Movement: All day, every day! She moves constantly. She jabs me all of the time and is sticking out her limbs from each side of my body constantly. I love feeling her move and cherishing every moment of it. She still gets the hiccups all of the time.


Best Moment of the Week: Knowing my body is preparing for labor, or at least trying to. SO exciting. I feel like in some ways there are so many firsts with this baby, which I have written about before!  And I am so excited and giddy over.


Maternity Clothes: Of course. Pj's are the only thing I wear most days unless I am leaving the house.


Stretchmarks: Just the same ones from the girls.


Sleep: Sleep is actually not going to well. Surprisingly now that I CAN sleep through the night, I can't fall asleep until after midnight. Still get the best sleep in the morning, until I wake the girls up at 9AM.


Food Cravings: Anything. Pork and sour kraut! Loving on that right now! My sister brought me a dozen chocolate glazed Krispie Kreme doughnuts yesterday 


Aversions: Cream based foods.


Gender: A Little Miss!


What I Miss: WINE! 


What I am Looking Forward to: My birthday and a LOOOONG overdue date night with my hubby! Also, my OB appointment on Thursday to see if I am more dilated and another sonogram of E! And of course hoping to go into labor soon!!!


And here I am at 36 weeks and 4 days:

So many changes at 9 1/2 Months....Lots of Photos!

I know I have like another 12 days or so until the girls "10 Month Post" but they have been changing so much daily, I feel like I have to document all they are doing right now!
First of all, my BIG girl, Miss Madelynn....she is INSANE! She is crawling SO fast everywhere and standing up all of the time! She pulls herself up to her knees constantly and then stands right up, and most of the time only holds on with one hand!

Soo, I am going to climb out, Mommy!!!!!!

When on her knees, she doesn't hold on to anything at all! She also beats up constantly on her sisters. I must say "Madelynn, please be gentle" one hundred times a day already when she tries to crawl over her sisters, slap them in the face with her hands or toys, knock them down, use their heads to brace her falls, take their binki,  ect, ect, ect! She is such a bully and she just smiles away while being mean or when she is in "time-out".

Tim and I were reading to the girls last night and talking about Madelynn and how she is going to be our dare-devil child, saying, "Daddy, I'll jump of the diving board, I'm not scared" at four years old! She is such a determined child and so far not scared of anything. She explores everywhere and figures out things so easily (like how to take toys off of the exersaucer or how to get underneath of the rocking chair).
Her, by far, favorite thing to say is "dadadadadadadadaadadada"!

She throws the biggest fits of her sisters. She throws herself back and raises her arms and kicks her feet. She is also a very hard child to change, she just wants to crawl away and it takes some acrobatic skills to change her diaper and clothes these days!

She kneels or stands at the chick pen and sticks her tongue out through the holes. Silly girl!

Madelynn also wants to fed herself these days. She takes her spoon and holds it and bites it while in the high-chair. I have to always say, "Madelynn, Mommy will feed you, Mommy is in charge"!

She sits here all day, trying to see the TV!

On Friday night (10.07.11), we had a horrible night, where Madelynn cried for hours upon hours and the next day, her TWO bottom teeth had broken through! I couldn't believe it! I am so happy, and the drooling has also subsided a little, for now and she is much, much happier.

She hates yogurt, hands down. Gags on the first taste in her mouth.

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Our middle child, well for not much longer, but she'll always be our middle triplet, Claire, has a HUGE tooth that broke through on 10.02.11 and has continued to come in with a vengeance! I keep calling her "sharp tooth" (from The Land Before Time...)!

She now scoots everywhere, and so fast. She does get up on all fours (knees and hands) and hops forward, like Madelynn did a few weeks ago, but she gets places by the "army scoot" as of right now and has no problem!

She is also becoming very attached to her Daddy. At night, she only wants to sit with him and even if I lay her in bed with us and she is drinking her bottle, she stares at her Daddy the whole time and tries to get his attention. Yesterday, Tim got Madelynn and Claire up from their nap and when he brought them downstairs, he gave Claire to me so he could change Madelynn's diaper, and Claire had a fit, until Tim came back to pick her up. She immediately started touching his face and screaming "dadadadadadadadadadada" one million times! Tim and I looked at each other and just laughed! It was so cute! When she wakes up, the first thing she says is, "dadadadadadadada" and I just continue to say, all day, "Dada is at work, honey!"

Claire's voice is also much higher pitched than Madelynn's, I've noticed. Their voices do not sound anything alike.

She started spitting while eating and so at the end of her meals...she normally looks somethink like this:

Claire LOVES her binki too now, I think it's soothing on her gums to have something to chew on.
Claire is also scared very easily and she jumps so easily is things scare her or startles her. Just walking into the room sometimes, I make her jump. Poor girl! She hates peek-a-boo and I don't think I will be getting her any jack-in-the-boxes for her birthday or Christmas, haha!
She LOVES the jump-n-go soooo much! She is a crazy child when in it and just jumps so hard and high!!!

She is going through a little growth spurt too, I think. Last night she had 4 ounces of chicken with rice, 4 ounces of carrots and 4 ounces of applesauce! Normally, I just give her 4 ounces of meat/grain and 4 ounces of a veggie, but she was still hungry so I gave her some fruit too. And then she still drank TWO 10 ounce bottles through the night!

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Natalee is talking so much more and becoming more and more independent! AMEN!!!!! She laughs all day, especially...big surprise, at her Daddy. She loves to play peek-a-boo and laughs so hard when he throws her in the air and catches her!

Her favorite place to sit is on the couch in her Eagles blanket with her Daddy...

She still prefers to eat all people food, but of course gets baby food too. She wants anything we have, including drinks. She opens her mouth and does this owl sound, like "hoo, hoo". It's so darn cute!

I think since I have been giving her yogurt each day, her hair has started growing like crazy. I swear it is because of the yogurt, but probably not!

When giving Natalee a bath, you need a rain coat or a poncho, due to her splashing EVERYWHERE!

She has learned to jump in the exersaucer and she is crazy! She is still our little peanut!



I'm going to post some videos of the girls scooting and crawling, standing and kneeling, as soon as I get a moment and my 6 Month Pregnancy Post is coming too!!

Baby Signing!

We've begun a new adventure around our house and it's...Baby Signing!

I wanted to start signing with the girls because our therapist told us one day that especially with multiples, speech can be delayed for one and really strong for the other. Usually one multiple speaks first and then speaks for his/her sisters/brothers and so they become advanced where the other multiple becomes delayed. So baby signing can and hopefully will eliminate one multiple needing to speak for the other(s). Of course I will do whatever is best for each of the girls, so baby signing it was!

Also, I know so many families that it has worked for and it's just amazing what babies can learn and how fast they do!

So, it's been well overdue and finally I got around to borrowing some videos to sample from a friend before purchasing any.

We've been watching:

And...

It's taken me awhile to learn too...but it's something I really want to do and teach the girls! Any good hints or suggestions I should do/use for teaching the girls? I would be grateful, as I can barely remember each sign most of the time!!

Wish us luck!

My Big Girl, Miss Madelynn!

She's growing and becoming a big girl right before my eyes....I can hardly stand it! She is definitely living up to the "first-born child" and doing everything first and super quick! I can barely keep up with her and how fast she crawls across the room...thank heavens for "our chick pen"!!!!

She can climb up on the crib (09.26.11) where we change diapers at downstairs....which will be lowered asap, just like her crib upstairs already is! She pulls herself up and peers over the side!

Here she is getting into her bins of toys all by herself (10.04.11). She gets in them and throws all the toys out.

And here she is on her knees (10.05.11) playing with one of her favorite toys! I can't believe she is pulling herself up so much and I know it won't be long before she is standing up on her feet!

My little peanut is getting so big!

Madelynn, Claire and Natalee: You are NINE Months Old!

Ummm...who are these NINE month olds I have CRAWLING around my house and terrorizing each other!?! I'm speechless!

Randoms to Start:

You all know your names so well. I just call you and instantly you look at me and smile! My heart always melts, I can't believe you know your names.
You all raise your arms to be picked up when you want to be picked up or you see me coming to get you. Of course kicking your legs and jumping up and down, if your in the exersaucer is always a must, when you see Momma.
You all still love Baby Einstein and we watch it many times a day, but not as much as we used to, you all rather just play now! We have switched to some of the Baby Signing Times and Sesame Street, You all LOVE Sesame Street!!!!!!!
You love to play peek-a-boo, have me sing you songs, read to you, and you love your doggy (and any other doggy) and will laugh at her all day long!

You are all most content in the mornings, after breakfast and in the evening, after dinner.

You all always wake up smiling and I put you all in one crib and get you dressed, singing "Good Morning to you..." You all love it and love seeing each other in the morning!
By far, you all love bath time with Daddy the most or shower-time with Momma.

Natalee:

 

You have made such progress this past month! I can barely believe at the big girl I see before my eyes! You can sit up now. Your by far favorite thing to do these days is to eat your toes and you HATE when Momma put socks on your feet! You are fascinated with them! (and so are your sisters, because they still eat your feet like crazy!!)
And one day, I just gave you a pacifier since we have like a million and you took it and haven't let go of it since! You can't sleep without it and you absolutely just LOVE it! It has made you whine less and all around much happier. I am sorry it took me so long to offer it to you after I thought you were done with it.

You love cheerios and any people food for that matter! You have tried so many things....bread sticks, olives, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, pasta, rice, apple juice, water...and so much more, but I just can't remember, please excuse my pregnancy brain, Natalee, when you read this one day!

Madelynn:

You are crawling everywhere and getting into trouble all day long! You are such a determined child, I swear! Your favorite thing to do is pull up the floor mat, even though I have a blanket over it and another floor rug on top of it, you always pull up all the pieces and managed to pull it apart (since I wrote that, we have changed the whole area, mainly because I was tired of putting it all back together all of the time!!). You are slowly learning the word "no, no" but you have began to throw fits when I move you and then as soon as you are over it, you crawl right back over to the edges of the mat and go at it again....allllllll day loooooong!

You have started arching your back and throwing mad fits when you don't get your way, which is interesting because you are a "quieter" and a little more reserved than your sisters.
You love to smile at ANYONE and everyone always asks if you are always this happy!

You still have the most hair of your sisters.

You are the bully of the bunch, still. You beat up on your sisters alllll day long and I have to save them constantly!

What Mommy? I'm just trying to get over her, she is in my way!!!

You visited the hospital for the first time on Sunday, 9/11/11 for a bladder infection, with a very high fever. Momma and Daddy were very scared but you did great and smiled the whole time!

You are almost holding your bottle, you do it by yourself most of the time, only sometimes needing assistance! You hold your own juice cup just fine.

You sit up and go from sitting to crawling and crawling to sitting, very easily!

Claire:

You said "dada" for the first time while we were at the beach. You say, "dadadadadadadadadada" a million times over. It's so cute.  You babble constantly and are so loud!

You also went through a phase while we were at the beach where you stuck your tongue out consistently. It was so funny and only lasted about a week.

You love taking your socks off and chewing on them.

You hold your bottle all of the time and your juice cup! You are such a big girl!

Growing:

You have grown sooo much! You are all in size 3 diapers and honestly, I don't think it will be long before we are already in size 4 diapers, in fact I have already ordered some via Diapers For Divas!

You size 1 shoes do not fit anymore, so for fall we are moving to size 2-3. You wear shoes every time we leave the house now, unless we are just going to Grandma and Grandpa's across the street!

You are in size 6 month (Natalee) and 9 month (Madelynn and Claire) sleepers.
Your daily outfits are between 6 and 9 months but all of the stuff I am buying for fall is all 9 months and fit all of you fine, but for after your birthday, I'm sure you'll be in 12 months. I am so happy that you girls are finally catching up to your age in your growth! Most of the 6 month stuff is getting too small but since most of it is summer stuff, I am just trying to stretch it through the warmer fall days.

Stats:

At the doctors on Friday for our 9 Month check-up:

Madelynn:

Birth: 3 lbs. 14oz.

9 Months: 15 lbs. 12 oz. (7th percentile)

Birth: 16 1/4 inches

9 Months: 27 inches (25th percentile)

Claire:

Birth: 3 lbs. 14 oz.

9 Months: 16 lbs. 3 oz. (15th percentile)

Birth: 17 inches

9 Months: 27 inches (30th percentile)

Natalee:

Birth: 2 lbs. 13 oz.

9 Months: 13 lbs. 14 oz. (just barely off of the "normal" curve)

Birth: 15 3/4 inches

9 Months: 25 1/2 inches (5th percentile)

Sleeping:

We haven't had to use the "time-out" crib at all this month! Amen! In fact, we have even put it back in the attic, for now, until Little Miss gets closer to arriving!
Natalee, you have been sleeping in your crib, on your belly for naps and have been doing wonderful! You sleep great for at least 2.5 hours! At night, you are still the first, normally to go to bed (or want to go to bed) and you go down great, on your belly and with your paci, it has helped soooo much.

You all go to bed around 7:00pm and sleep until somewhere between 7:00am and 10:00am, it just depends on how many times you wake up during the night. Normally, you each don't wake up more than once, but sometimes twice.

You all love your lovies and will not sleep without them!
We also lowered your cribs to the bottom level since you are all sitting up and were starting to pull on your mobiles.

Eating:

You all eat great! Madelynn, you get 4 ounces of fruit and cereal and a yogurt in the morning, normally between 8:00am-9:00am. Claire and Natalee, you get about 1/2 of a cup of banana oatmeal cereal with about 1/4 cup of fruit mixed in. Madelynn, you still refuse to eat the baby cereal. Natalee, you LOVE your cereal in the morning and scream bloody murder for it each and every day! You open your mouth and grunt like a bird, and it's literally gone within minutes! You are so funny! Madelynn, you are the least interested in breakfast, just like your Momma!
Natalee- you had cheerios for the first time on 9.12.11, and you love love love them, along with any other people food you've had so far! Madelynn, you love cheerios too! Claire, you gag on them in two seconds.
You all LOVE your juice/water! Claire, you will lay on the floor and drink your juice for like 30 minutes. It's so darn cute!!!!!!!

For lunch, around 11:30-12:30pm, you each get about 4 ounces of a veggie and a bottle of about 8 ounces.

Bottle, 8 ounces, around 3:30pm-4:00pm.

Dinner, around 5:00pm-6:00pm, you each get 4 ounces of a veggie w/ some sort of meat, and then a fruit, about 4 ounces of that. Sometimes, if I run out of fruit, I will give you cereal, but normally I just give you cereal in the morning.
Bottle, 8 ounces around 7:00pm, or sometime you go to bed not wanting a bottle and then wake up around 10:00pm to have it, which is fine because I am normally still up then.

Natalee, you love the Baby Mum-Mum Rice Vegetable Rusks. I gave you each one on 09.08.11 and you ate the whole thing in five minutes and your sisters couldn't even get one bite down before gagging. You on the other hand, have no problem! You love them! You do so much better with textured food or real people food than your sisters do. Claire, when you get something on your tongue that has a texture, you stick your tongue out right away and let it fall off. You are so funny!

You all want anything Daddy or I have. Whether it's food or our phones, the remote, a napkin, anything...you want it. You watch us eat and stare at us like you want it all for yourself! I can't wait until we can give you people food all of the time!

I have started also giving you shredded chicken, for the first time this past weekend. It was a rotisserie chicken from Costco and of course Natalee loved it and Madelynn ate it and Claire wanted no parts of it. I shredded the whole chicken and divided it up in bags and froze it for later use.

More Randoms:

This month we did so many fun things!
We went to the beach for the first time! You all LOVED it!
You went to the zoo for the first time on 09.16.11 for the Lockheed Martin Picnic with Momma, Daddy, Gammy, Grandpa, Aunt Christine and Uncle Nate!

You went to your first Poolesville Day on 09.17.11 and everyone was so happy to see you!! You loved watching the parade and all the people walking by all day!!

You went to Smokey Glen Farm to the Shady Grove Fertility Clinic Family Picnic on 09.18.11.
Nana made you fresh applesauce with apples from our favorite market.
We bought your Halloween outfits! :)

You were featured in a Hyundai commercial!

You went to your first Poolesville High School Homecoming Football Game on 09.24.11.

We officially know if you have a brother or a sister coming in January...and, it's a sister!
Mommy has ordered all of your birthday stuff! It's all handmade and going to be gorgeous!!! I am so excited to share details soon!