Three months and look how they've grown!

Three months ago today, I held my baby girls for the first time. I remember thinking how tiny they were and looking from face to face to see if I could tell them apart. Estella had a stork bite on her eyelid and a "receding" hairline and long face; Cordelia's hairline was straight across her forehead and she had a very round face. I looked for these characteristics every time someone handed me a baby for the first two weeks.

Soon, Cordelia and Estella developed very distinct looks and very distinct personalities. Estella had a warbling cry and had more trouble nursing. Cordelia was always ready to sleep and would squeeze my finger while she nursed, just like a little kitten.

Today, I can tell them apart at a glance and can even distinguish their cries apart (at least most of the time). I am reminded every day that Estella and Cordelia are two very different girls who just happened to be born on the same day.

newborn Cordelia
 

one-month-old Cordelia
 

two-month-old Cordelia
 

Three-month-old Cordelia is quick to cry and quick to smile. She is serious about everything she does, whether it is nursing, batting at toys above her, or sleeping.


newborn Estella
 

one-month-old Estella
 

two-month-old Estella
 

Three-month-old Estella has great big bright blue eyes that never seem to close. She watches everything around her and is easily distracted, as if she doesn't want to miss anything.


Both girls are getting bigger -- over 11.5 lb now -- and are becoming much more interactive. Although I'll miss the brand-new-newborn stage where they just curl up on my chest and are so precious, I know that the next stage will be a lot of fun and look forward to the babies sitting up, rolling over, cooing and gooing more, and starting to communicate in ways other than crying. I'm sure they will grow up even more in the next month!

The Indianapolis Zoo

The last full day of our vacation in Indiana, Rachel, Dale, and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. We had actually planned to take them on several other occasions during the trip, but something always seemed to delay the outing.

We delayed so long that the only day left for us to go was a bleak, chilly, rainy, dreary day ... but we didn't let that stop us! We arrived 45 minutes after the zoo opened and had "pole position" parking. (Thanks to Uncle Rob and Aunt Laura for letting us borrow their car ... we wouldn't have been able to transport all the kids without it!)


Because it was such a dreary day, the zoo was almost deserted and we were able to get so close to the animals. Also, Adelaida was able to walk at her own pace, often quite far behind us or ahead of us, and we could keep her in sight easily so she didn't have to stay right next to us the entire time.

We saw some fun animals, including white-handed gibbons, brown bears, rhinoceroses, and bongos (reddish-orange antelopes with vertical white stripes), as well as several other animals.





Dale and Adelaida fed the giraffes together, as did Rachel and Simon.



We had a great time and had just gotten to the elephant exhibit (with a very young baby African elephant!) when the skies opened up and it started pouring on us! We quickly ran to a relatively sheltered spot, pulled out our coats and covered the babies as well as we could, and ran the length of the zoo back toward the entrance. Despite the rain at the end, it was a perfect trip to the zoo. I look forward to taking the kids to the Indianapolis zoo again soon!

Spending the day with a good friend

My best friend from high school lives in Illinois -- it is only a 3.5-hour drive from my parents' house in Indiana to Karen's house in Illinois, but unfortunately we have found it more and more difficult to get together now that we both have kids. My trips to Indiana are often packed with visits to various family members, so I'm rarely able to take a day away to spend with Karen.

Roommates together again after a too-long absence!


Since I last saw Karen, she had her second child, a beautiful girl named Liliana, I gave birth to Cordelia and Estella, and our older kids (my daughter Adelaida and Karen's son Hamilton) both grew up from babies into active toddlers. So when Karen suggested that she could drive to Indiana to visit with us while I was staying at my parents' house, I was overjoyed!

Adelaida with Baby Michael


Hamilton poses with the birds by the house


Karen, Hamilton, and Lilianna drove to Greenwood on a Sunday evening, just in time to introduce our kids to one another and then put them to bed. We talked for a while that evening, then got as much rest as we could that night. The next day, Karen's parents drove up from southern Indiana to join us and we had a whole day together, talking and laughing and playing with the kids. Karen's parents brought a big box of sidewalk chalk, so we spent about an hour outside, with a blanket on the grass for the little kids to lay on while the big kids colored on the driveway.

Adelaida, Cordelia, Estella, Lilianna, and Hamilton


Lilianna gets tummy time while Cordelia and Estella sleep


Pat sits with Adelaida on the blanket


When the kids were done with their sidewalk chalk, Dave helped Karen and me take the kids for a walk -- with two strollers containing three infants and two toddlers running around, we didn't go very far, but we found some good puddles to jump in and interesting flowers and trees in the neighborhood.

The day flew by and, before I knew it, Karen was loading her kids up in the car and we were saying good-bye. I miss Karen but will try to see her again before we both add more kids to the family!

three thumb-suckers

Over the past two months, both Estella and Cordelia have become quite proficient at sucking their thumbs. Despite secret fears that they will still be sucking their thumbs when they are teenagers, I'm really quite happy that they are able to soothe themselves with their thumbs. They've never taken pacifiers so we won't be hunting for pacifiers when they are upset, or getting up repeatedly in the middle of the night to replace pacifiers that have fallen out of their mouths.

Cordelia sucks her right thumb, and she sucks vigorously! She usually holds her right hand with her left hand, as if she has to hold her thumb in place to suck it.


Estella sucks her left thumb while using her right hand to twirl or stroke her hair. She sucks rhythmically and calmly and almost always calms down as soon as she gets her thumb in her mouth.


Two years ago, Adelaida was a thumb-sucker as well. She sucked her left thumb and placed her hand such that the fingers of her left hand covered her face while she sucked her thumb. We were lucky with Adelaida -- she started sucking her thumb when she was six weeks old, was very comforted by it, and quit naturally when she was about nine months old. I hope we are as lucky with Cordelia and Estella!

Playing with Daddy

One wet and chilly morning while we were in Indiana, we decided to go to the park. My parents and grandma were eager to love on Cordelia and Estella, so we left the babies with them while Dale and I spent some quality big-girl time with Adelaida at a local park.

I suspect the weather kept some people away, and we were almost the only people at the park. The absence of other little kids made Dale bold and he tried out some of the equipment to encourage Adelaida to use it. Soon, she was doing everything Dale did and having so much fun playing on the playground with her daddy. Fortunately, I had my camera and took a few pictures:

swinging

riding on the bouncy horses

walking the balance beam

Dale demonstrates the monkey bars, then helps Adelaida across the monkey bars

sliding down the tube slide

teetering on the lame teeter-totter

sliding down the double slide together

one of my favorite pictures -- Dale and Adelaida sitting on top of the monkey bars together

Meeting Simon

Just after Labor Day, I flew to Indiana with Adelaida, Cordelia, and Estella for a two-week vacation and my sister's wedding. Dale couldn't take two weeks off work, so stayed in Albuquerque for the first week and then joined us for the second week. I really don't think I could have flown back with the three girls by myself, so I'm so grateful to my dad and Mary Jo for traveling to Indiana with us -- three adults proved much better able to handle a toddler and two infants than one adult would have been!

six-month-old Simon meets two-month-old Estella

One of the first things I did in Indiana was meet my newest nephew, Simon! Simon James was born in March and was considerably older, bigger, and more mature than his baby cousins. He tried to teach them all kinds of cool tricks, like holding his head up and rolling across the floor and talking "GAA YAA YAA BAA" and grasping toys (or really anything else within Simon-reach). In return, Adelaida tried to teach him some cool tricks, like jumping and climbing onto chairs and eating solid food.

Simon is big, strong, and full of energy! He is also a really happy baby, smiling and talking all the time. And he absolutely adores his momma -- and I suspect that the adoration is mutual!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Simon:

Simon and Estella contemplate each other


Wow, I had forgotten how to feed an infant! Simon was a great sport about it and didn't seem to mind all the butternut squash that ended up on his face, bib, clothes, hands, and tray.


Adelaida decided Simon was an OK kid. She lavished him with kisses and tried to talk to him every time he started talking his adorable baby talk!


With a little help from his mom, Simon drives the tractor at Apple Works.


Simon is over two feet tall -- and growing!


Papaw carries Simon and Adelaida.


Simon hanging out with his cousins -- Simon, Estella, Cordelia, Adelaida.


We look forward to seeing you more, Simon!

Grandpa and Grandma visit

Mary Jo holds Estella as Dad looks on

Two months before Cordelia and Estella were born, Dale and I started a calendar on which we scheduled the various guests who would be visiting us this summer. For three short days at the beginning of September, we hosted my dad and Mary Jo. Although they had seen the babies on skype, it was their first time holding them, touching them, and changing their diapers. Well, actually it was Mary Jo's first time changing their diapers; my dad's first time changing them still hasn't happened yet!

Dad carrying Adelaida through the zoo

The weekend was full of activity! Of course there was a lot of baby-holding, but we also went to the zoo and somehow Dale and Dad started two big projects at the house -- digging up and replacing a sprinkler water valve (they got the three-foot-deep hold dug and the valve replaced, but realized when they turned the water back on that there was a leak and would need to cut out and replace the valve again) and cutting down a very dead tree by our driveway (the tree was cut down and cut up, but they didn't quite get around to removing it from the driveway). Despite the fact that neither job was finished, I was so grateful to my dad for helping Dale with those two projects, as we'd been planning to do them for a long time, but really needed a second person to help out with them. And, Dale was able to finish both projects the following week while the girls and I were in Indiana.

Dad rocks Estella

For two of the three nights Dad and Mary Jo were visiting us, Estella had very difficult nights. She seemed to be having some stomach pains and just wanted to be held -- every time we'd try to put her down, she started crying, and would periodically scrunch up her little body and scream even when we were holding her. Although we tried not to wake Dad and Mary Jo, their room was just across the hall from the babies' bedroom and I'm sure they didn't get much sleep those nights either. One night around 2am, Dad came in to the bonus room and installed himself in the glider, where he spent the rest of the night, holding and soothing Estella while we slept. Thanks Dad!

Here are some wonderful pictures of that weekend:

Adelaida perched on the water buffalo sculpture at the zoo


Grandpa rocking Adelaida and Cordelia
 

Grandma holding Estella


A silverback gorilla at the zoo carries his new toy away from the other gorillas


Reese, the two-year-old orangutan, swinging at the zoo


We had a great visit and were especially grateful to my dad and Mary Jo for traveling back to Indiana with me, a toddler who was missing her naptime, and two infants. It was a surprisingly easy trip, but I couldn't have done it without them!

Crazy Hair Day

All summer, Adelaida's school has "theme days" on which something special happens. This summer, Adelaida had a petting zoo come to the school, went on a bear hunt and teddy bear picnic, had clowns come in to the school, had "splash days" with water play every week, pajama day, bring-your-favorite-book-to-school day, inside-out day, a visit from the fire department, and of course crazy hair day. It's hard to make a toddler's hair "crazy" while still keeping it out of her face and spending no more than five minutes doing her hair in the morning, so we made do with great big ponytail bands sporting brightly colored gauze fabric and sequins. Adelaida loved it, and I love this picture of her!