6 Month Stats

Today was our sixth month check up at Dr Van de loo's office. The kids seemed excited to go on a trip in the car...little did they know where they were going! Mommy had planned it so all three had been fed and napped, except for their appointment took us over 1 1/2 hours! Everyone was very crabby and extremely tired by the time all was said and done.

Addison was first to get weighed and examined. We recently realized she's getting "stranger anxiety" and of course there was no exception with the nurse or doctor. She cried throughout most of her one-on-one time. To make it worse, when she cried, Jordan felt bad and had a nervous look on his face until he finally broke down and cried too. Remember- this was all just during the usual check up...we hadn't even seen or discussed their three shots yet! Luckily- Jack wasn't fazed at all by any of it. Infact- during his hip check he actually chuckled at Dr Van de loo.

Here's their stats for 6 months old:



Jack- 15lb 10oz L- 25.79"





Jordan- 15lb 10oz L- 25"






Addison- 15lb 4oz L- 25"




This was the first appointment we were given percentiles to compare them to other 6 month olds. We found out they are definitely on the small side! Addison was in the 23rd percentile for her length and 35th for her weight. Jack was in the 15th percentile for weight and 25th for height. Jordan was 10th percentile for weight and 8th percentile forh is length.

Go Red Sox!

Today was a very special day for daddy and the riplets. Well, actually the whole weekend was very special, but today was the first Red Sox/Yankees game the kids got to experience. The series actually started on Friday but we weren't able to watch it because ESPN only aired Sunday nights game, ugh. Daddy misses NESN and Jerry Remy terribly!! Anyways- the kids learned today that the "YANKEES STINK" (daddy was not allowed to use other words to describe them..hahaha) and "Yooooook!!!!". Jack especially loved watching the game with daddy. Jordan seemed preoccupied with his sox cap and Addison fell asleep during pregame.

Jack & Jordan saying "Go sox!"


Jack watching the game...

Besides their baseball experience, Jordan got to go on his first field trip to the Tjelta's house this weekend. While he was gone, Jack hung out with daddy watching the Celtics/Bulls series and Addie went with mommy and grandma shopping. Here's pictures of Jordan's big day out. I guess Jordan does really well on his own (I bet he's wishing he was an only child..hahaha) and took a 2 1/2 hour nap while he was gone! He also was soaking up all of the one-on-one attention. We're pretty sure he's going to try to talk Jack out of his turn next time so he can go for another fun day without his loud siblings.

Addison also got to wear something very special her great grammy Edith made her. Great Grammy knitted a sweater and matching booties years ago for a grand daughter and since she never had one, she was very excited when she found she was getting a great grand daughter instead. Here's a few pictures of her in the beautiful clothing Grammy made.

We're 6 months old!!

Six months ago today, we entered the world...

Today was not that much different then that first day, because it was bath day, so we were naked and cold just like those first moments of our lives. Luckily- none of us cried during bath time today though.

Besides baths we had a very eventful day. We woke up and had our usual play, bottle, nap schedule. Vicki came to play with us today, which is our usual Thursday routine. Around 2pm grandma showed up and brought us a "6 month old" b-day present (which we had no idea you'd get!) She played with us until our cousins came home from school. When Eli and Sai got home they decided to make us birthday signs. They both took a lot of time to make them for us and they turned out really nice. After dinner, the signs were finished and we got cake and ice cream and got to wear Sesame Street b-day hats!!!

Here we are with Vicki playing!


We also got to skype with memere and pepere after our bath time and before our "nudey time". (that's a whole different post to explain!) By the time we finished talking with them, we were exhausted and just took our final bottle and fell fast asleep.

Jonah, Eli,Isaiah,Jack, Jordan, Addison

The rest of this week was full of more news, too. Mommy just hasn't found the time to post any of it. Let's see...first of all- Addison is now rolling ALL THE TIME. She prefers laying on her tummy now and will whine or cry if we force her to lay on her back. Addie also has no concerns for others in her way. When she wants to roll over, she'll roll onto her brothers or toys or anything that is next to her. If she can't get completely rolled over she'll cry or yell at whatever is stopping her. Jack is also now rolling to his tummy and seems to like it. He's just not doing it each time he gets on the floor.

Jordan still has no urge to try rolling over, but has decided he can sit up now. We've come to the conclusion that he hates practicing. He just wants to "do it" when he's ready. The other two have been trying and trying to sit up and they'll make it about 10 seconds or so and then tip over. Not Jordan- he's really sturdy all on his own most of the time.



All three also seem to be extremely crabby this week. We're assuming this is teething, since all of them have been drooling like mad and keeping their fingers (and sometimes full fists) in their mouths all day long. Hopefully something pops out soon or mommy and daddy may go crazy from all the fussiness!

Tomorrow is our 6 month pictures at Target....wish us luck! (and no crying-haha)

Rolling, bottle holding and the return of 4AM

This week has been full of excitement for the Riplets. It all started the end of last week with Addison showing us that she knows how to roll over. Since then, Jack decided he needed to roll over as well, just to prove that she isn't the only talented one. Except Jack decided to wait until he was in his crib for naptime...which isn't the BEST time to try it out since he forgot to lift his head. Luckily, mommy heard his muffled voice on the monitor and went to check out what was going on. Since then, Jack hasn't really gotten the full "roll over" thing down again...at least not in front of any of us!



Jordan on the other hand has absolutely NO urge to roll over. Infact- he spends his time wanting to stand and making sure that each time he stands from the sitting position that everyone in the room is aware of his accomplishment. He actually will look around with a very proud face and even turn to see who's behind him. The other very LARGE accomplishment this week for Jordan was that he held his bottle through almost a full feeding!! On Friday morning Daddy left for a meeting around 11AM and as we said good bye, Jordan was hungry and demanding (through very strong whines) his bottle. As I went to show it to him and show him the sign for "bottle" and point and say "baba" he grabbed it from me and put it in his mouth before I could even finish. Here's the video:





All three have been practicing sitting up and playing with toys during "tummy time" as well. Of course Jordan has no interest in sitting, but the other two are starting to get the concept. They are loving the idea that they can hold toys in an upright position instead of always in the air above them while they lay on the floor.



Besides their great accomplishments of the week, we do have one sad set back to announce. After a few weeks of pretty restful nights, Jack and Addison have decided that 4am is the new 6am. (Very similiar to "40 is the new 30" except this doesn't have any real benefits that mommy and daddy can see) We have come to the conclusion that these two were conspiring against us and Jordan to make 4AM playtime. We've tried to just let them "talk" themselves back to sleep except they know enough to just get louder and louder and that eventually they will be taken out of the room because "poor little Jordan" will wake up otherwise. So this leads to daddy's new nickname for the two of them:

BONNIE & CLYDE

He has Risen! Happy Easter

The Riplets first Easter seemed to go pretty smoothly. We woke up early (as usual) around 5:30am. When I say "we" I mean myself and one of the kids. Which one you ask? I'm not exactly sure...they all seem to blend at 5am. hahaha. But really, I find that each feeding and nap seem to blur together. I am very lucky we still keep a food journal so I know who ate when or I'd be starving one and over feeding another.

Anyways- after getting all three babies their bottles, tummy time, Easter baskets (& pics), rice cereal & fruit, their diaper bag ready, and FINALLY them dressed into their new outfits...we headed out for 9:30am church. We are usually really good about getting us all to church each week on time AND two of the three kids into the nursery before church starts. This morning was no different, even with the extra "holiday" visitors and the change in nursery location (we were unaware of) for Easter.

After church we headed to a very yummy buffet at Haymarket Grill. We were lucky enough to have 2 of the 3 take their bottles propped during our meal and only Jack decided he needed to see what was going on and what mommy was eating. He actually started to pull at my plate and stick his fingers in my food for the first time at Easter Brunch. Addison finally finished her bottle and caught her grandpa's eye. So he took her for a few minutes to talk and play...only to quickly give her back stating she was very "stinky". Addison's new trick is to fill her pants to the point of leaking whenever we get her in a dress with tights. I think the tights to her is a challenge...she's thinking "can I make my messy diaper actually seep through my tights??"

We headed back home after brunch to Skype Memere and Pepere and then to watch a family egg hunt sponsored by G'ma Jean. During our "skyping" the kids opened a very large box from Memere and Pepere full of Easter goodies. The kids were spoiled this year with cute new outfits, great new bibs, books, binky holders, new hats (including red sox caps), new shoes and much more.

The egg hunt started about 2pm after my cousin, Jeff and his wife and kids came to participate. There were over 100 eggs sorted into two categories: little girls (my cousin's kids) and big boys (my nephews). During the hunt, we took out our triple stroller to entertain my crabby kids. They loved having Grandma push them over the bumpy lawn.

Brittany came to visit us this weekend while her hubby James was visiting his grandma. She brought the kids some fun Easter gifts,too. They decided to that the babies were too little for candy so they got them new bibs and Gerber jars of fruit. What a fun idea!

After a fun-filled day the kids were in their pjs and ready for bed by 7pm. Scott and I have been getting a few hours now of down time, yay!

Here they are during the hunt...in their stroller

The Easter Bunny

We realized last night that we hadn't taken the Riplets to see the Easter Bunny yet! Luckily, we still had a day to pack them up and get them to the mall for the "big event".

After they met the bunny, he gave them each a pair of his bunny ears to wear home. Enjoy the video with their bunny ears on...we certainly thought it was pretty funny!

All Aboard for Blanket Bay

Today was a very busy and interesting day for the Riplets. First of all, Addison has something to add to her "firsts" list. She rolled over from her back to tummy today!! Of course after weeks of us trying to get any of them to make the full roll, she waited until it was diaper time and did it all on her own. Now each time we put her on her back she grunts and groans and continues to try to roll over. We told Jordan and Jack (as they each woke up from their naps) and both seemed thoroughly annoyed with her. Jack then proceeded to try to make the full roll himself just to take the spotlight off of her. hahaha Jordan on the other hand had no interest. He's too busy trying to figure out how to walk or at least move around without having to rely on us.

We also took time today to have the kids dress up in the sailor outfits Memere and Pepere got them. We were planning to save the outfits for their 6 month pictures in a few weeks, but after we tried them on, we realized they may not fit them by then!!! The boys both had issues with
them being pretty snug in their torso. We also were sad to find that both of the boys' outfits had security tags attached to them still and the tags had their hats attached to it. SO...these pictures aren't quite as cute as they could be. Luckily, daddy was going to try to saw the tags off tonight for us. That's why we did A LOT of pictures first, just in case he gets ink all over the outfits and himself!

Mommy's night out!

I was finally treated to a (long overdue) night out with my sisters and mom. We are huge New Kids on the Block fans and we FINALLY all got to go to their concert together again. The last NKOTB show we all went to was over 15 years ago! Of course, this was not the first show I had been to recently, I actually made it out 2 weeks to the day my babies were born. You could say I'm a pretty loyal fan and luckily, I have some very great in-laws and a wonder husband to allow me to go.

Anyways- we organized our outfits to wear (Red Sox Ts, of course!) and headed to Green Bay for the show. It was really, really nice to go with the girls again and to not be worrying about my babies. Ok, so maybe I still worried about them just a little...especially when Scott called me about 4:30pm to tell me he had already gave away Addison for the night!!

So yes, while I was gone Addie went on her first "field trip" as Scott put it with one of our good friends, Vicki. From what I was told, she had a great time and came home about 8pm already asleep and in her pjs. I think Addison wanted to leave the house of "all guys". Scott's helpers for the day/night were Grandpa Dave, Uncle Mark, cousins Eli, Isaiah, Jonah, and "Uncle" Chris. So between all of those boys and her brothers it was obvious that Addison needed to leave with her bestest bud, Vicki.

Here are our pictures of the NKOTB show...oh! Did I meantion we were really close and I got to touch Jon and Donnie's hands?! YAY!!

Firsts...

Since we didn't post from the beginning we decided to give everyone some of the "Riplets" firsts. Their first holiday was Halloween and they were only 8 days old. At the time, Addison was home with mommy and daddy and we were spending our days going to see her brothers at the hospital and getting her used to her new home. Luckily, we had A LOT of help with Grandma Jean, Memere, and Pepere around either watching Addison in the evenings or going to the hospital to visit Jack and Jordan. On Halloween though, Addie was really excited to go see her brothers because she was dressed up as a black cat. She was also excited to see her brothers as a ghost (Jack) and a pumpkin (Jordan).


Grandma Jean visiting Addison

Their next holiday was Thanksgiving and that week they also got to meet mommy's family that drove out from Wisconsin.




Their first Christmas was spent at Memere and Pepere's house in Leominster. They brought their new bumbo chairs with them to open gifts and to see everyone.





Other "FIRSTS" included:



Meeting Grandpa George


Meeting Grammy Edith


Doctor's appointment (Dr Garnette)


1st Christmas Card

• Their first smiles were all in January
• Their first laughs were in January
• They first starting holding their heads up in January
• Rolls to their side: Jordan in February, Jack & Addie in March
• Jordan "scooted" on his back on January 28, 2009
• Addison slept through the night on January 7, 2009
• Jordan slept through the night on February 28, 2009 (Great Grandpa Russ' Bday)
• All ate rice cereal together on February 24, 2009