Eight Months Old (Six Adjusted)

Happy Fourth of July!! 

Another month has come and gone! It is moving so quickly. We are starting to think about their first birthday already.... excuse me while I shed a tear. People are not joking when they say it all goes by so quickly. I think it goes even quicker with multiples. There is just so much going on, and the days fly by!

Millie has to be the referee of these troublesome boys

So much has happened and changed in the last month. The babies are growing like weeds. They are also changing so much developmentally. It is truly hard to believe what can change in just a month. They are eating some solids now. So messy! But it is hilarious. I love watching their faces when they try something new. So far, we have tried avocado, green beans, butternut squash, carrots, and apples. I have been making all of the baby food myself. It is actually kind of fun! So far, I have made avocado, green beans, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, and pears. It is so much cheaper, plus we know exactly what they are eating, so that is good. It is a lot easier than it looks. I make big batches and freeze it so that we can just grab what we need as we need it. To date, the babies HATE green beans the most. I am talking full on gagging and puking. Would you judge me if I said I laughed once or twice. The faces are hilarious!

Don't worry- we still have plenty of formula.

We also took our first family vacation! What a trip that was (in more way than one). We went to Sunset Beach with my dad's extended family. We have about 40 relatives go on the trip with us, and I have gone since I was just one year old. I love this trip and the time that I get to spend with my family. I hope to continue the tradition with the kiddos! Everyone wants to know about the car trips. Well, what normally takes about 10 hours took 12-13, but that wasn't too bad! We stopped every 4ish hours to change diapers and feed them their bottles. They really did not eat that well during the car rides. They also slept WAY less than you would think. I'm not sure that they were all ever sleeping at the same time for more than 5 minutes. I was squished in the middle back seat for most of the trip. Just call me the master ringleader/entertainer. It was madness trying to keep everyone happy and rotating toys between the bunch. Singing, dancing, talking- I do it all. The last 3 hours each way was HARD. Luckily my momma took that shift once for me.

Dylan

Jackson

Millie

Owen

They loved the beach. Dylan was a little nervous about the waves at first, but he came around as the week progressed. The whole trip was a lot of work. It took us about 1.5 hours each morning to get everyone "ready to go" to the beach. Then we would load them up for the walk to the beach. We needed about 4 people with us to get down there. We would put 2 kiddos in the wagon and then carry 2. Plus we had to take all the paraphernalia that they require. We took a pop-n-play, bag of toys, bag with sunscreen, emergency bottles, etc. in it, and then some chairs. It was like a parade down to the beach. We could stay for about 2-3 hours before it was lunchtime for the babes and our time at the beach was over for the day! The babes then got a sink bath when we got back every day. By the end of the trip, we were a well-oiled machine. The biggest downfall of the vacation was that the babies did not sleep very well. They were in pack-n-plays, which they had never slept in before, plus they were in a new place with a lot closer quarters. I think there were 2-3 nights where I only got 1-2 hours of sleep, and I never got more than about 4 hours. ROUGH. But, it was all worth it in my book. We had fun with all of our cousins, and we did get some adult time here and there. Mostly, I loved spending the week with the babies and watching them grow and explore a new place. A memory I will have forever.

My little diva girl

Sharing toys <3

Jackson & Millie

Snuggled sleeping together at the beach <3

Jackson & Dylan

On the ride home

Owen & Millie

Cousins!

The sleeping arrangements in their room. We had to take 2 mattresses out!

Ready for the beach!

The beach is exhausting.

Owen is seriously hilarious.

We also made a short weekend trip to "The Spot" for the Fourth of July. Chris' family has a place on the Ohio River where everyone gathers on the weekends. It is a fun place! We want to try to make the trip down (about 2.5 hours) as often as we can, but it is hard when we have to pack and plan so much to go. We stayed at Chris' grandma's house. We were able to spread out and take all the space the babes need! Some of my family also joined us Saturday for some fun. I love that our families get along so well and enjoy being around each other. Such a blessing (especially when you have quads). We had so much fun, and I think everyone enjoyed having some extended time playing with the babies and getting to know them. The babies did so well! I was amazed how well they slept there, and we got along great for the whole trip. Thank you so much to everyone for pitching in and loving on our babies =) We hope we can go back another time or two this summer before the season is over. Maybe we can if this goofy Ohio rain can let up a bit!

Is this real life?

Aleah had a blast!

Aleah & Addison tubing

Jackson Jackson weighs about 18lbs 8oz. Chunk! He is so muscular and strong. Even though both he and Dylan are bigger, Jackson is definitely bigger with muscles and Dylan is definitely bigger with chubbiness. Both 100% adorable in my book! Jackson has learned all kinds of new tricks. He can cluck with his mouth. He actually taught himself that one (I couldn't believe it!). He says "da-da" and "ba-ba" and other such similar-sounding noises. He doesn't know what it means, but it is still adorable! Jackson has mastered the whole sleeping through the night business, and he has had that down pat for about a month. Hopefully it stays that way! He is usually able to find his binki in the middle of the night, so that helps a lot. He loves to do raspberries while we are trying to feed him his food. Of course, he thinks that it is hilarious that food goes flying all over the place (in his hair, up his nose, all over him, all over whoever is feeding him, all over the chair- madness!). Everything about feeding babies is messy though, so I suppose I should get used to that. Jackson is a great army crawler, and he can scoot his way all over the mat. He can push himself up onto all fours, so I'd say it won't be long for crawling. He can sit up all on his own, but he still tumbles over every now and then. He loves to explore with all of his toys, but he is most interested in whatever toy his sibling next to him is playing with. Yes, we having fighting over toys already!

Clearly VERY proud of himself

Also destructive with toys.

hahaha

Owen Owen is still a peanut. He weighs about 14lbs 4oz. Even though he is tiny, he actually passed Millie in the last month! Still no teeth, although they have to be coming any day now! He is eating his hands and drooling like crazy. Owen is going to be our monkey of the bunch. I think because he is so tiny and doesn't weigh much, he is able to get around more. That kiddo can move from one end of their play area to the other so quickly. He spins himself around in circles frequently, and he is SO CLOSE to crawling. He definitely has the scooting down pat. Even though he is teething, he is still our most smiley boy. If you even look in his direction he just grins from ear to ear and shows off those cute little dimples that he has on both cheeks. I could just eat him up. His hair is turning more blonde, and it is much straighter than the other boys' hair. My mom likes to gel it straight up in the air. It is adorable. Owen also tried to climb up his crib recently. He legitimately had both of his hands on the bar like he was climbing a rope. Cracks me up. We are still giving him increased calories. His weight went up this month, but he didn't really go up at all on his growth charts. He is tall and thin that is for sure, but he looks like he is filling out to me. And, more importantly, he is eating way more than he used to (both bottles and solids). What a little snuggle bug. He still has the most kissable lips. 

Dylan Dylan is a major chunk. He actually passed Jackson in the last month! He weighs about 18lbs 12oz. Can you tell that he loves his food the most?! He is also still a stinker in the night, but we are hoping the current trend keeps up because he has been doing MUCH better in the past couple of days. He was needing to eat in the night (helps to pack on the calories haha), but not so much now, so hopefully he keeps it up! Dylan has been going CRAZY this last month. He just gets so so excited. He kicks and laughs and jumps and just overall goes completely bonkers. He is REALLY trying to get some teeth (they all are). Poor little guy. Dylan was the last to consistently start rolling back to belly, but he does it all the time now. Especially during the night and then he just screams because it scares him (hence the rough nights). He is AWESOME at sitting up though! He was really the first one to start sitting up pretty well by himself. He does great until he gets himself turned the wrong way to reach for a toy and then topples over. Luckily we have these really awesome cushy play mats (hello nap time for mommy!), so all of the toppling over going on these days does not leave many marks (unless a toy happens to be in the path of the fall!). Dylan loves to kick his legs, and has really started wanting to jump 24/7 while we are holding him. It is hilarious, and a big workout for my arms (not a bad thing). Everyone loves Dylan's curly hair- finally something he got from his momma!

He still does the "wind-blown" sleep look 

And he loves the water (as long as it doesn't have waves)

Millie Millie is officially the smallest again. She was the smallest when she was born, and she wins that award again. She weighs about 13lbs 15oz. She is just so petite! Mills is the first to get teeth! She got her first tooth while we were on vacation, and she got a second the week we got back. Girlfriend is the first for everything! She took it like a champ though. And now when she does her cute little scrunchy face grin you can see two little teeth popping out at the bottom which is just adorable. She was also the first to say "da-da" and "ba-ba"- such a smart little lady. Millie is moving and grooving all over the place these days. Like Owen, because she is tiny, I think she will have an easier time crawling. She scoots along now, and has mastered sitting up on her own. She is just so small, so it looks hilarious that she can sit up and play, but it is so cute. Girlfriend has started eating a lot better, too. She gobbles it right up. Poor Millie has the least amount of hair of all of the babies, but it is finally starting to grow! My mom thought she had enough hair (questionable at best) for her first fountain. There was literally about 3 hairs in the fountain, but it was adorable. Millie is generally still the most content of the bunch, although she is having a bit of stranger-danger and would really prefer that you play with her while she is playing. Princess status already of course =)

Fountain!

As a random side note- if anyone has a garden and has extra produce that they are not going to use, we would love to have it to make into baby food for the babies! Just contact me or drop it off, and I can whip it up into a tasty treat for the babies. 

As always, thank you thank you thank you to everyone for helping us and supporting us. We could not do it without you- seriously. We are so lucky to have such awesome friends and family in our lives. You all were so generous at my baby shower that we JUST opened our last box of wipes from my shower. What a blessing! Thanks for sticking around and reading about our growing babies. I do these updates for you, so I can have a happy reminder of what all has gone on our first year (it is flying by!), and so that someday the babies will be able to read these updates and enjoy reading about what our life is like and what they were like as babies. How fun- until next time everyone. Enjoy your summer!