Boys - 4 years, 9 months

They're the exact same height at 43.5". Alex weighs 44 pounds and Tony weighs 40 pounds. Alex is in the 75th percentile for both and Tony is in the 50th percentile for weight...we've had him pegged as tall and thin like Opa and Uncle Bob for awhile now, so this is no surprise.

Today was picture day for their first season of soccer. Their first game is next week.

Jill is 2.5!

She's 37.5" and 33 pounds. That puts her squarely in the 90th percentile for her age/height/weight.

She's finally started talking and has taken it upon herself to start potty training in preparation of starting preschool in November.

Still girly. Still loves all things pink, purple and sparkly.

Jillian is 2!

Favorite...
Color: Sparkle. Does not discriminate between pink and purple.
Toy: dolls. dress up clothes and accessories. writing instruments/things to make the world more colorful. (markers, crayons, chalk, pens, highlighters, paint)
Place to go: Shopping. School with her brothers. Disneyland.
Food: Macaroni and cheese. grapes. raisins. bananas. King's Hawaiian rolls.
Movie: Frozen. Little Mermaid. Cinderella.
Animal: Ponies. Followed closely by puppies and kitties.

What do you want to be when you grow up? She's convinced she's a princess, so I'd imagine she wants to be Queen.

*While not talking much, these are her favorites as interpreted by her parents.

Pre-birthday Measurements - Jillian

Just measured Jill...she's as tall as her brothers were when they were 9 months older. That makes her 97th percentile for height at 36 inches. She weighs right around 30 pounds. This puts her in size 3T clothes, but usually 4T for one piece swim suits, rompers, and dresses. Size 5 diapers. Size 7 shoes.

Top 10 Things I DON'T Miss About the Corporate World

Kim posted a hysterical video of a conference call depicted in real life (I'd link but I'm posting from my phone), which led me to declare conference calls being in the top 10 list of things I did not miss about the corporate world. So then I started thinking about what else would actually be on that list...

In no particular order:
1) conference calls
2) work clothes/heels
3) business lunches/dinners
4) conferences/meetings/seminars
5) stupid policies and procedures aka red tape
6) training (as both trainer and trainee)
7) HR/political correctness (especially as it pertains to CA)
8) dealing with those who feel entitled
9) technology issues
10) being stuck in a building all.day.long

Edit 1/30/14:
11) Performance Appraisals

Happy 2014!

Not really a new year's resolution, but something I've been working on for awhile now. But since it's the day to put these things out there, and I'll better hold myself accountable by doing so (totally contradicting what I'm about to say):

I'm going to stop worrying about what "everyone" thinks of me and stop being a people pleaser. Or at least less of a people pleaser...sometimes it is a good thing...but I do it too much.

For awhile now, I've watched while my mostly twin mom friends all frantically clean our houses before we have guests over. We will bare our souls to each other as we share our struggles on this wild ride,  but heaven forbid we let each other see our sinks piled with dishes, toys strewn all over the floor, and stacks of stuff on our counters or shelves placed out of reach of our little people. I totally will scrub every inch of my house before a big gathering. But if I just want to have a play date or a few friends over for wine? Must let the worry go. I'm fairly confident that 90% of my friends that have similar aged and quantity of kids have homes that appear to have been recently ransacked...because their kids outnumber them and are living and playing and happy. While striving for organized chaos, sometimes, often, it's just chaos. I'm trying to be okay with that.

Tony is 4!

Favorite...
Color: Red
Toy: Lightning McQueen and dinosaurs
Place to go: Disneyland
Food: Cereal and macaroni and broccoli and brownies
Movie: Cars 2
Animal: kitty and a puppy

 What do you want to be when you grow up? Builder Guy

Alex is 4!

Favorite...
Color: Green
Toy: Planes and Legos
Place to go: Uncle Greg's house
Food: Pizza
Movie: Planes
Animal: Giraffe

What do you want to be when you grow up? PPS (UPS) Man

Because I need to record this somewhere...

Jillian is 34.5 inches which is taller than Tony was on his 2nd birthday. She has 2.5 months to go until hers.

Alex and Tony are about the same height at 41 inches. They wouldn't stand still or up straight long enough to get an accurate measurement.

Jillian is ONE!

Over a month ago. I was waiting for the pictures. Yeah, that's it. Sigh.

She's awesome. She thinks she's also a three year old. It's her world, we just live in it. She has all of us wrapped around her little finger. She loves everything princess, purple, pink, and sparkles. And babies. She loves her baby dolls. I cannot imagine our lives without her. She's what we were missing, even though we didn't know it. At her one year well baby appointment she weighed 22 pounds and was 31 inches. That's 9 inches and 13 pounds in a year. She has 7 teeth. I think her hair is going to be curly or at least really wavy. This fact scares me. Her eyes are a beautiful hazel. She has my squint. She's my mini me with a million times more confidence and spunk. I hope that never changes.

Test for Sara

One day I will actually post about Jill turning one...almost a month ago. ;)

Jillian @ 11 Months

Did I blink and miss the last 11 months? How the heck are we in the final countdown to Jill's first birthday?!

Oh this baby girl is such a joy!
She is always on the go and just BUSY exploring and learning and trying to keep up with her brothers.
She climbs everything.
She has great balance.
She FINALLY started walking this week after teasing us for what felt like an eternity.
She prefers to do so (walk) in only a diaper.
She wants to do everything herself. I think I've put solid food into her mouth less than 5 times in 5 months.
She has learned to back off of the couch or bed so that she lands feet first...still a big drop from the bed though.
She waves, claps, and dances.
She loves music like Tony.
She is a rooster in the morning like Alex.
She still naps twice a day, but if the conditions are right, will just take one really long nap midday.
She is fiercely independent and brave.
She is becoming quite a talker.


She says:

• mama - but means she wants to nurse. Whatever, it's fine. 
• dada - her favorite person in the whole world
• hi - but usually just waves
• bye-bye - every morning when daddy leaves for work (unless she happens to be sleeping late)
• Opa (believed to be used interchangeably for both Oma and Opa - she saw Oma walking towards her at hockey this weekend and very clearly said "Opa!")

Stats:

Just under 30 inches

21 pounds

Still just 6 teeth

18 month clothes fit her perfectly right now (except for jammies...we're holding on to the warm fleece ones as long as we can)...her spring and summer wardrobe will be 24 months....crazy! Of course that's a length issue...the 18 month skirts and pants are way too big for her diapered waist...we need to start buying the adjustable waistband or just leggings which are more snug. 

Size 4 diapers...Jilly's still got a big ol' butt!

Jill's Teeth Update

Since this is my kids' baby books...

Jill now has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. She got the 4th one on top sometime in the last few days. She got the other 3 all in one week a few weeks ago.

Amber teething necklaces rock! I lost her old one and it was about a week before her new one arrived. She was fussy and not herself. Put the new one on and she cut the three teeth a few days later, MUCH happier that she had been. Totally sold me on it and confirmed what I'd suspected and hoped to be the truth. If only I'd had them for the boys...

Jillian @ 10 Months

I have no idea why this little girl isn't walking yet! She climbs EVERYTHING! She has incredible flexibility and balance...yoga and dance are hopefully in her future.

Jill cut 3 top teeth this week bringing her total teeth count to five. Number 6 is close. 7 and 8 don't look to be too far behind.

Jill got the flu for the first time this week. It was pretty short lived and I enjoyed the snuggle time with her because she is NOT a snuggler normally.

I can't believe that it's time to start planning her first birthday festivities (after Christmas course)!

THREE!

How is it possible that these little guys are THREE YEARS OLD today?!

Now they look like this....

There are no words to describe how much I love these two. My firsts. Even though they're only a minute apart, they have taken on the roles of big and little (and now middle) brother. Though really, they've always been that way, even in utero.

Alexander Martin

38" (holding on to that one inch advantage over Tony) & 38.5 pounds
This kid is the rule follower.
He's recently learned the art of negotiation "Mommy can we go to Cars Land first? Then we'll go on the mermaid ride." My favorite ride...smart kid. He got his way.
He has a touch of OCD...he notices right away if something is out of place. He lines up his cars and trains. He can make a mess like no other, be he hates to be dirty or messy.
He's the inquisitive one. He wants to know what everything is, how it works, and soon to come I'm sure "why".
He loves blocks and legos and tunnels and roads. If this kid doesn't end up an engineer or something similar, I'll be surprised.
He refuses to let me cut his hair or nails. I gave up on the hair issue and am letting it grow out. Striker and I have to hold him down while he kicks and screams to cut his toenails. I can usually offer up a bribe to allow us to cut his finger nails.
He's the love bug. He's not a snuggler, but he's affectionate. He wants to make sure that everyone is okay.
He loves dairy foods and cheeseburgers and sandwiches and fruit. He likes non-chocolate sweets.

Anton Mikael

37" & 33.5 pounds - Oh my tiny kid! (His little sister is already 29.5" and 21.5 pounds...of course she weighed almost twice as much at birth as Tony did)
Tony has spunk. Pretty sure he is at the top of Santa's naughty list.
He's left handed. He's creative, artsy, musically inclined, loves to dance, and so different from his brother.
He's a snuggler.
He likes to sleep late with mommy on the weekend while daddy gets up with Alex and Jill (thanks Striker!).
He's a talker. And a parrot. And he can recap like no other!
He is messy. And a total rough and tumble boy.
He loves cars and trains, but mostly Lightning McQueen.
He loves animals. Especially dogs and cats. Especially Pluto.
He is very passionate. He loves passionately. He also fights with his siblings passionately. He's also becoming very passionately opinionated about some things lately.
He loves chocolate. And carbs. And chicken.


If I remember, I'll ask them the list of birthday questions tomorrow. (Thank you Pinterest).

30 Days of Thankful 2012: Day 25

I am thankful to finally have a Christmas season in this house where I am physically able to decorate it the way that I've wanted to since we moved in way back in 2007.

Christmas is exploding in here this year and I'm even more excited since surviving: brain surgery recovery (2007), fertility treatments (2008), newborn infants & a c-section (2009), almost one year old twin boys that were still breastfeeding multiple times per day (2010), and pregnancy (2011).

Time flies and wow!

Jillian @ 9 Months

She's on the move and getting close to walking. She climbs flights of stairs and tries to keep up with her brothers at the park. She's a super fast crawler and has been walking around behind things she can push like boxes and chairs. She's getting brave and only holding on with one hand and sometimes she will even let go.

She is such a daddy's girl. He's her favorite. No question about it. It's super sweet to watch her snuggle with him and get so excited when he comes home.

She is a girly girl...loves sparkle, jewelry, shoes, and "pretties".

She's a really good eater of all things that she can feed herself.

She is curious and inquisitive. She needs to know what is going on and hates when she is sleepy and has to miss out. She is napping twice a day and sleeping well at night.

I love you Jilly girl!

30 Days of Thankful 2012: Day 13

I'm thankful to have met a super duper awesome photographer that has been taking our family photos for over 2 years now.

I can't recommend him enough and the boys love him and his family. We took our Christmas Card photos Sunday and our cards shipped Tuesday (Monday was a holiday).

I've also got him lined up for the boys' birthday party again...he's been there every year, and I'm totally hooked!

30 Days of Thankful 2012: Day 11

I am thankful for all of those currently serving, that have served, or gave their lives serving our country. And to their families that sacrifice so much while their loved ones are away...thank you as well!

30 Days of Thankful 2012: Day 10

I am thankful for the busboys in restaurants that clean up the aftermath of a family dinner out. We always tip ridiculously well...I just hope the servers share accordingly.