First Family Road Trip

The babies are rocking on all fours and experimenting with putting one knee forward, straitening a leg, hopping their legs forward, etc. It has come time to babyproof this house because it looks like we will have crawlers before long! And because they are sitting up so well we have moved to using bath seats and bathing them all together. They love getting to sit up and spend all of their time trying to grab the floating toys.

We took our first trip together as a family this last weekend to visit Grammy and G.P. Although the babies didn't love being in their carseats for 4 1/2 hours they did remarkably well. In fact, Keith and I both agree that the drive was even less grueling with three little fun munchkins in tow. We all had a great time and we were so impressed with how well the babies slept and took in their new surroundings.

The trio is now 8 months old. They are also 6 months past their due date which is when the pediatrician suggested starting rice cereal. I have been more than happy to wait until now to begin this time-consuming and messy process but the time had come and I couldn't put it off any longer. Payson was a pro, of course, after having several weeks of eating prunes under his belt. He loves eating and has great form, opening his mouth and "chewing" each bite perfectly. Hayden took to it very quickly. She eagerly opened her mouth for each bite and, to no one's surprise, tried to help hold and guide the spoon. Madison didn't like getting into the high chair, let alone have some foreign object guide some nasty slop into her mouth. After all, she does have two teeth so she must feel she is ready for something not so elementary.

Another big change in the Melker household is that I finally stopped pumping expressed breastmilk after doing so for 3-5 hours/day for the last 8 months. It was extremely difficult for me and I initially thought I would be able to handle pumping just a few times a day but my supply diminished and couldn't handle the change. I really have a love/hate relationship with my pump. I love how it enabled me to provide the babies with the nourishment they needed particularly in those early preemie months but hate how much pain and discomfort it put me through and how it robbed me of so much time, sleep and freedom. Not only did it prevent me from leaving the house for more than a few hours at a time but it kept me confined to the couch when I wanted to be holding my babies or when they needed me to soothe them. In the end we decided that in those moments it was better to get them the best nutrition possible and I can only credit the Lord for giving me the strength to continue pumping for so long. Last week it was time to return the rented pump to the hospital and I'm not sure if I was kissing the pump because of all it did for our little ones or because I was thrilled to be kissing it goodbye but I think it was a little of both.

Recently our neighbor-hood playgroup went "Strollerskating" which was surprisingly a pretty good workout. I'm sure we were quite the scene with my big ole' Babyburban strolling around the rink. Good times. And while away for the weekend we got to go to a baby shower for Keith's high school friends, Matt and Lisa, allowing us to catch up with friends and see all of their new babies.

And here's a little song to leave you with...