I think I've mentioned that the girls love socks and shoes... When Emma was all wound up when we first got to the pre-op room for tubes, the only thing that would calm her down? Letting her play with shoes. Yeah. Anyhow, they had the little socks-with-the-tread-on-the-bottom for each of them at the hospital. My first thought was - hey, those could be useful at home! And then I realized that their love of socks actually means that they love pulling them off. So I'll have to admit I was shocked that Emma loved actually WEARING those yellow socks. All day long. They're a little big, and at one point one of them started coming off and she got all upset. She went and sat in her chair and held her leg up so I could fix it. We finally had to take them off her before bed.

Hospital socks


Love this one, too.


We had to take the frames down off the walls in the girls' room. When we got back from the hospital on Tuesday, we first tried putting them all in the same room for a nap. After a few minutes, we heard a strange noise. Greg found one of the frames in Julie's bed. We had found a couple behind Becca's crib a month or so ago, but no more. They came down, though, so now I'll have to come up with something new, or shift everything up a few feet. I think I'd like to get their names up in there somehow.

We are officially done with bottles! I know we're suppose to have given up bottles at 1 year, but we've been holding on to the bedtime bottle. I finally got around to ordering the girls these chairs, and they came last week. We finally got them unboxed over the weekend, and thought it would be a good time to switch from Boppies & Bottles to Seats & Sippies. When we first got the chairs out on Saturday afternoon, the girls played musical chairs for the rest of the afternoon.


I don't think you can really appreciate it in the video, but Emma is also resorting to prying her sisters out of the chairs they are already in. She is rather insistent and strong willed. No idea where she gets it, of course.

Sitting in our chairs. Sort of. Check on the look on Emma's face.


Becca also figured out that she could use the chair, when it is pushed up against the couch, to climb on and actually get on the couch. The couch is a favorite place right now. Greg and I cannot sit on the couch without them coming over to get us to get them up, too (and Becca raising her arms and saying "AT!") - usually we resort to sitting on the floor rather than having to play defense and keep them from falling off the couch. Them being able to get up on their own is a big deal in terms of living room security. Once they can get up on their own, we're going to have to get the love seat out of there - it's up against the Great Wall, and I'm afraid they will get up and throw themselves over the wall. Anyhow, as soon as Emma saw that Becca was up on the couch, she ran over and wanted me to pick her up. I am so thankful that she apparently didn't see how Becca got up... and Becca hasn't done it again since, though she was trying to climb up on the chair to get her sippy cup tonight.

A major reason why they love being on the couch.


I bought some new hair clips on etsy that I just love. Of course, they stay in for about 30 seconds... I keep telling Becca that if she won't keep a clip in, we're going to have to get that child a hair cut soon. Julie actually left hers in for the longest on this day - - I think she just forgot about it. Once she remembered, she pulled it out. But Emma let me get some good pictures of her.


Love the look in her eyes here as she goes for my camera strap.


The closest I got to a pic of Julie


It was pretty warm and humid this past weekend, so we got the water table back out on Saturday afternoon, and the girls had a blast again. Mostly with the water.

R, E


R


She got a little wet.




I love that you can see Becca's tongue in this picture, if you look closely.


"Is there something better out there?"



On Sunday morning, we had a nice trip to the zoo. The girls are really starting to see the animals now - they point to the elephants and the giraffes. The zoo has a pretty good orangutan exhibit, too. There are just glass windows to see, so we were getting the girls out of the stroller and standing them on the window ledge (and holding them). The two adults were sleeping, but there's an adorable baby in there. He had a cardboard box and was just rolling around all over. Totally funny. (Did I mention how much I love monkeys? And how they make me giggle?) Anyhow, at one point, he rolled right along the windows. I had Julie, and she screamed and started crying when he came right in front of her. Poor kid. Greg had Emma. He said she backed up but didn't try to get away. Later, on the way out, we went by the goats, and one of them came right up to the fence. You guessed it. Julie started crying again. So it's not just strangers she's afraid of, it's animals, too. Of course, I don't think telling this to strangers who make her cry will actually make them feel any better.
Double strollin' (E in front, R in back)


We tried to get pictures of all of the girls with the lions. Sigh. Julie would rather play in the mulch.


She got on briefly


But wasn't so happy when Becca got on, too.


Julie's much happier standing next to it.



Becca checking out the giraffes.



J Cate and I at the giraffes


Julie had a pretty good "bye bye" and "uh on" going on right now. "Bye bye" also goes with a wave, and she seems to know when to use it. Emma's also got a pretty good "bye bye" and wave, so when the girls go to bed now, they wave, say bye bye, and blow kisses to each other. So cute.