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

Oh my goodnes, 10 months (on 10.23.11)! I can barely believe it, time flies! This has by far beeen mine and Daddy's favorite month! You all are doing so much, each day new things and we can barely keep up with things! I just love the sweet little girls you are becoming, I mean you have always been sweet, but now your personalities are really starting to shine through, and it is such a blessing to witness each day!

Natalee: You started saying "dada" on 10.20.11. You started pulling up on your knees and rocking back and forth on 10.21.11. Way to go big girl! You can push yourself backwards constantly and roll over of course, and that is your mode of transportation right now! You love cheese and yogurt and you have had so many "real" foods, including steak, chicken, turkey, baked beans, pizza...really, I can't remember anything you haven't liked yet! You have no teeth yet, but you are our best eater! You also eat lots of veggies all by yourself. You love to chat and you love to watch sports with Daddy on the couch, especially when he wraps you in our Eagles blanket. You love it!

Madelynn: By far your favorite food this month is cheerios and puffs! I think you would eat the entire box of cheerios if I let you. You shovel them into your mouth and it is so cute! You started shaking your head "no" (from side to side) for the first time on 10.20.11. Now, when you are eating and we ask you, "Madelynn, do want more bread?", you shake your head "no". It's by far the cutest thing and Daddy could barely contain himself, just asking over and over, "how does she know to do that?!" You love bread, refuse yogurt, and are just in love with trying to feed yourself all of the time! Amen baby girl! You love to use your sisters to help you stand up and brace your falls! They don't apprecaite it very much though. You love to play with Claire especially! You also love to whisper, it's the funniest thing. If I say, "Madelynn, say dada," you will look at me and start mimicking my mouth moving up and down and whisper "dadadadaada," I love it! You have two teeth, the bottom two, that came through on the same night! You take teething seriously, and do not like it at all. You are very fussy, wake up a million times at night and don't want to eat much, you poor girl! Your two top teeth are getting ready to pop through any moment and I hope they come soon because you seem to be miserable the past few days!

Claire: You are still getting up on your knees and hands and rocking back and forth but that's as far as you get, you are so close to crawling though. You do the "army scoot" and are quite good at it because you can get from point A to point B in NO time! You have started attacking your sisters too, but are not the bully that Miss Madelynn is. You and Madelynn love to play together and take eachothers toys and go back and forth all day long. It makes my heart sing when I see you all playing together each day, I just love it to pieces.  You have one tooth on the bottom (the right side) and one tooth on the top (the left side). The other top left tooth is almost through, it's right there and will pop through any day!! You don't seem to be too bothered with sprouting teeth.

This is the first month where you guys have really started playing together.
Madelynn and Claire, you seem to always be next to eachother. It is SO interesting to watch identical twins, I tell ya, I am learning so much. It really intrigues me and the older you get the more and more I see.

You are all in size 9 month sleepers.

You are all wearing size 9 month outfits, but they are getting short in the legs! Size 6 month and most 6-9 month outfits are too small now. All of your "holiday attire/Christmas/winter" clothes I am getting in 12 months. You have long legs, ladies, whahoo, I hope you take after Momma!

 You wear size 2-3 shoes.
You can still fit into some 6 month onesies, but the 9 month ones fit you fine too.

You wear size 3 Pampers Baby Dry diapers during the day, and size 4 Pampers Extra Protection diapers at night.
Your 1st Birthday Party stuff has been ordered, your invitations have arrived and Mommy could not be more in love with it all! I don't know how I am ever going to out-do this year!

You all can sit up just fine. Claire, you have almost made the transistion from sitting to crawling. Our wonderful therapist works with you each week and you're getting closer and closer.
Madelynn and Claire, your voices seem to be completely different.
Natalee, you have really started talking this month!

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Our daily schedule looks like this at this time:

Somewhere between 7:30-8:30: Wake up. I take you all out of your cribs and put you on the floor and you love to play with your books and toys that just stay upstairs. Madelynn, you are always standing up in your crib now when I come in and greet me with big smiles! I love it! I get you all changed and dressed for the day and then we venture downstairs.
Natalee, you are the first to eat breakfast each day because, well, you are most impatient and can barely contain yourself while I am making your cereal. Now, it's a little easier because you eat your cheerios and puffs while I make everyone's breakfast. You eat about 3/4 cup of banana oatmeal without taking a breath most days. And then I go on to feed your sisters. Claire, you eat about 3/4 cup of banana oatmeal cereal and 4 ounces of fruit. Madelynn, you eat 4 ounces of fruit mixed with a grain and then normally another 4 ounces of a fruit. Both of you get cheerios and puffs too, and sometimes dried fruit. Normally, we are done with breakfast, no later than 9:30am.
Then we play, rotate around with toys, the walker (which Mommy picked up at a yard sale for 3 BUCKS!) and the exersaucer. Natalee, you are the only one who gets a 5-10 minute nap around 10:00am in the swing.

Around 11:30am we start lunch. Normally, Natalee eats first again and gets 4 ounces of a veggie and either 4 ounces of yogurt or 4 ounces of fruit. We practice "self-feeding" each day and you do great. You can also eat cheese, bread, peas, ham and turkey lunch meat, really anything as long as it is in small pieces. Claire and Madelynn, I basically do the same with you, 4 ounces of a veggie and 4 ounces of fruit and some "self-feeding" time. Claire, you really want nothing to do with "self-feeding" but we are working on it daily!

Naptime is promptly at 12:15pm and lasts until 3:30pm. You all sleep great and normally do not budge or make a noise the entire time. Natalee you have been in your bed for months now and you love your bed now for naps too!
Once you all wake-up, you love to spend some time with Daddy. Claire, if Daddy picks you up to kiss and hug you and doesn't keep you for a little bit and talk to you, you get very upset. Madelynn, you will stand at the gate and just cry for Daddy. It's all so cute. You are definitely noticing your Daddy this month so much! Claire, you just seem the most attached to Daddy right now! You will actually cry for him in your cries, you cry for "dadada". SO sweet!
Snacks at around 3:30pm of cheerios and puffs and dried fruit. Sometimes a yogurt, sometimes a bottle.
Dinner is started at 5:15pm and you each get 4 ounces of a meat and grain (like chicken and rice), 4 ounces of a veggie and sometimes 4 ounces of a fruit or yogurt (whatever you haven't yet had). Also, we practice "self-feeding" of all the other foods I already listed!

Bathtime, we start at 6:30pm, Daddy and I bring you all up to your room, get you undressed and Mommy gets in the shower and Daddy rotates you guys through the bath tub with me. It works out great, I just put my old bathseat (from when I was pregnant with you girls) and your bathtub goes on it and I just fill and re-fill as each of you come in. It works so well because I don't have to bend over, amen!

After the bath, we play, read books, snuggle with binkis and lovies and then it's bedtime! Bedtime is around 7:15pm, give or take ten minutes or so.

Normally, you all still wake up about twice per night for a bottle (we are working on this despertely!!!!). It has made it much easier since I just give it to you in your bed and you hold it yourselves! Natalee, Mommy still feeds you but you normally only wake up if your sisters are whinning. I really think if it wasn't for each of you waking eachother up, youall would sleep through the night. I wish there were books written about co-sleeping multiples! If I ever wrote a book, it would be on this topic! It's very hard with multiple children sleeping in the same room, believe it or not!

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Mommy and Daddy love you all so much! We have had such a wonderful time with you girls the past ten months and we are so looking forward to the next few months with the holidays and your first birthdays! We can barely believe we have survived a whole year since you were born, however, on one hand it seems like it was just yesterday when we held you each for the first time!

Happy TEN Months Baby Girls!