Wednesday, December 29, 2010

15 Weeks


In case you missed it last post, we weighed the babies yesterday and they are all in the 11-12 pound range. Daniel is the only one who is probably above the 5th percentile in weight (12lbs 11oz), but Max (12lbs 5oz) and Caroline (11lbs 4oz) are showing steady growth as well.  Considering they were all under 5 pounds at birth, they have grown about a half a pound a week, which is right on target!

Highlights of Week 15 have included Caroline's love affair with Tummy Time.  She now rolls over at will and to either side.  Today she was having a grand ol' time until she spit up on the mat and rolled her face around in it.  Apparently it's not too much fun to get milk in your eyelashes. Poor Caroline.  Max has also continued to roll himself over during Tummy Time.  His newest trick is to screech at the top of his lungs until he is fed, at which point he will fall asleep nearly instantly with the bottle in his mouth.  Needless to say, we are not necessarily fans of this stage.  Daniel's highlights have been slightly different.  He has taken to raising his little right hand to his head and resting it there, as if he's thinking deep thoughts.  It is so adorable that we haven't wanted to disturb him with the flash by taking a picture, but trust me...so adorable.  Tummy Time has not yielded any roll-overs for Daniel yet, which makes sense since he is the heaviest of the babies and thus has the most to push over.  He tries mightily but just doesn't quite make it, which proves very frustrating to him.  Today he compensated for this by displaying a different trick:






That's right, he is LICKING HIS BROTHER'S HEAD! And it's hard from the pictures to tell just how Max feels about it all (#2 and #4 are my favorite Max expressions - first shocked, then sort of amused).  We've been seeing this week that the babies are just starting to notice each other - I guess this seals the deal!  In fact, we were really glad for yesterday's visit from Baby Jenna, because we worried that Caroline would start to think that all babies looked like her brothers (which would stand to reason - if the only two other babies you saw were identical, wouldn't you assume they all looked like that? maybe she thought SHE looked like that too!)

They were so happy during play time that I decided to take their 15 week old Myrtle pictures there:





They were in a good mood because they'd taken a good afternoon nap, perhaps tired out by their visit from the Evans family.  This time, Quynn got to hold all the babies.  And Ian didn't seem quite as bored as he was the first time they visited.
Quynn and Daniel
Quynn and Caroline - an obvious connection
Quynn and Max, who was quite taken with her

Pam and Caroline

And that's been Week 15!

Lots of Visitors and New Experiences

This week the babies got to meet lots of new people!  On Sunday, Matt and Lauren came up:




While the boys have always been flirty with pretty girls, Caroline definitely seemed to take a liking to Matt - flashing her prettiest of smiles at him.

On Monday, they went to a Latke Party, where they were the hits of the living room:

Modeling a beautiful knit dress by Alexa

Hanging out with Andy

Stealing Laura's thumbs
On Tuesday we headed out to my last Multiples' Support Group meeting before I head back to work.  It was great to see all the other babies in the room ... and we also got to weigh our growing weeds.  Daniel is still the biggest at 12 lbs 11 oz., Max is still hot on his heels at 12 lbs 5 oz., and Caroline is still petite and lovely at 11 lbs 4 oz.

We rushed home to find Rebecca Corral and her daughter Laura (who hadn't seen the babies since they were in the 5lb range) - but sadly forgot to take any pictures of them.  Then another family ... with a baby the Salvateenies' age! ... stopped by and brought dinner.  The babies are just starting to notice one another, and it was fun to see them notice the other baby.

Caroline liked playing with Baby Jenna, but she liked checking out the camera even more




After dinner, Sherrie stopped by to cuddle, while Daniel flirted with Jenna.


Then the most exciting thing happened!  A power outage!  The babies' first blackout!  Sherrie was still here, so there was one baby per adult.  We lit some candles and Caroline was enchanted by the flickering.  It only lasted about an hour...just long enough to get us worried about keeping the babies warm.  I mixed formula by candlelight, got the bottles color coordinated in the dark, and we started feeding Max and Daniel just as the lights came back on.  Whew!

Other new experiences this week:

Caroline learned the joys of accessorizing

Daniel learned to "dress" for dinner

Max did a heck of a meerkat impression (earlier in the morning he was standing straight up in my arms  and looking around like a periscope)

Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Salvateenies' First Christmas

Christmas Eve started out with the babies' gift to Mommy and Daddy - everyone slept straight through to nine in the morning!  In fact, we had to wake them up for diaper changes and food!!!

The Salvateenies are very lucky to have a full complement of grandparents living locally who all love to play with them.  That means they got not one but TWO big Christmas celebrations this year.  The first was on Christmas Eve, with their Kelly family folk, and their friend Diane, who was celebrating her birthday (she's only a few...well, 67 3/4...years older than the 'teenies).

Here's Max at the dinner table with Grandpa

And Daniel hanging out with Daddy (but eyeing the roast in the middle of the table)

And here's Uncle Kelly showing off one of those faces that keep the 'teenies in stitches

The tree was complete with 28-year old popcorn garland and plenty of gifts for everyone


Caroline enjoyed helping open the packages

She claimed the bow for a headpiece and then covered herself in paper

And she was rewarded with a beautiful giraffe suit to grow into.  The incentive? It's got a rufflebutt!

There was also some nice sweatshirts for Max and Daniel


Daniel also rocked the bow as head adornment

Max slept through most of the presents

Daniel really liked getting gifts


Max woke up to a pile of loot

"I could get used to this"

Princess Caroline got a tiara, but not the hair to hold it on

Solution? A hat!

Daniel likes that shirt from Grandma and Grandpa - fist bump to the Kellys!

Max likes his stripey shirt too!
That night, they went to bed in their Christmas PJs and woke up the next morning bright and early (though not too early - Daniel still slept through the 9am wake up call!)  It was a quick breakfast and then loaded into the car for the trip to Livermore to see the other side of the family.  We beat most of the bad weather and made it in just about 10 minutes after Auntie Lee Ann.  A little bit later Great Aunt Jo Ann and Cousin John showed up.  Everyone was hugging the babies and Mommy was very excited to get pictures ... but her camera memory card was still plugged into the computer back home!  Thank goodness the nearby drugstore was still open and fully stocked!  

A quick dash out for supplies later, everyone posed in Christmas PJs before lunch time:

Daniel and Lee Ann

Caroline and Daddy

Max and Grandpa Salvatore
After lunch, everyone got a diaper change, and then they changed into their holiday sweaters and duds.
Max and Cousin John

Daniel and Daddy

Caroline and Lee Ann - a losing battle to teach Caroline not to lift her skirt!

Skirt down

Skirt up!

Skirt down!

Skirt up!
Daddy asks Max what he thinks of the whole skirt situation

Max is shocked!



Most of the babies slept through most of present time, but Daniel was a little fussy.  First Mommy held him, then Auntie Lee Ann, and then he finally settled in with Grandma:

and a bow on his butt

Caroline had the bow on her head and the skirt in her hands


Max wasn't sure what he thought of the bow on his head

But he was pretty sure he didn't like it


Daniel stayed asleep on Grandma's lap

Max warmed to the bow...


but he really warmed up in his new jacket from Auntie Lee Ann

Daniel's ready to go skiing in a few months



or just make snow angels
Max wanted you to see the reindeer on his sweater


and Caroline wanted you to see her full skirt

and her fancy new jacket




and how you can wear your skirt like a clown outfit neck ruffle
Max chilled with Aunt Jo Ann after dessert
And after a very full day, we all came home, changed back into PJs, and found our favorite presents right under the tree.