Triple Sensation: In no particular order

Well, it's been a very busy few weeks since I last updated the blog. Besides the everyday care and concern of the four girls, we were trying as best we could to help out with the preparation and execution of Jer's Uncle's memorial service. In the midst of all this, we celebrated Thanksgiving. We were so blessed with not just one turkey dinner but two. The first was a beautiful dinner brought to us by our dear friends in High River - thanks Smillies!! The second was a family affair celebrated at Jer's Aunt's with cousins and kids galore. This was our first outing where we actually stayed for a meal. All-in-all, it went fairly well. The babes were great up until we sat down for dinner (of course) and then decided to let loose and wreak havoc! We were all so thankful though to just be together and honour the life of dear Uncle John that I don't think anyone really noticed too much.

The days in Calgary have been glorious - 20 degrees today. We've enjoyed as much outdoor time as possible walking, playing at the park and so forth. It's hard to think that the winter will soon be upon us, but we're trying to take advantage of the beautiful days as they come. All the girls love being outside. Jennifer especially is a real outdoors girl and often prefers to run alongside or push the chariots over riding in it. The babes also love the outdoors and now that they are growing and becoming more aware of their surroundings, the outdoors offers something new to look at, hear and smell every time we go out.

The babies were all at the doctors last week for a regular check. All passed with flying colours. Heather has a small issue with her head shape and has been referred to physiotherapy in order to assist her with some neck stretching (she prefers to look at her left shoulder over her right). We definitely want to try to avoid having to put her into a "head-shape helmet" so we'll do what we can now. Weights are great and in keeping with a decent growth curve. All the girls are in and around the 50th percentile for their corrected age (4 months)

Emily is back on top at a whopping 13lbs 13 oz. Heather next at 13 lbs 8 oz and Caitlyn comes in at a solid 13 lbs 4 oz. Great job girls!

Over the past weeks, we've been witness to some really great socialising. All of the babies have "turned the light switch on" as I coin it and really enjoy any one-on-one social time. If you're lucky and the stars are aligned, Emily will give you a gut wrenching giggle that often draws Mama or Papa from whatever they are doing. Heather too has a delightful giggle and graces us with this whenever we rub her tummy just the right way. Caitlyn has her own unique laugh and although I would not say it's a belly laugh it is definitely communicating that she is enjoying your company and finds you quite hilarious. We're trying to give the babies as much time on their tummy as possible. Some days this doesn't amount to much however it is as Jer says - the art of the possible. All three babies are getting stronger each day - Heather is the leader in this department. She enjoys folding her body into a perpetual crunch position and plays with her toes. Any attempts to mimic this posture by either the Mama or Papa is met with significant groans and other unmentionable sounds. Caitlyn prefers a more relaxed posture and often can be seen just lying flat taking delight in her sisters' busy movements. Emily loves the floor time as long as someone is tickling her belly or reading her a book otherwise she would prefer other activities thank you very much! All the girls are given equal amounts on their tummy - as much for the fact that when they are older they will feel comfort in knowing all were "tortured" equally. None of the girls really like tummy time however, they will tolerate it for 5 minutes or so at a time. We've taken away the towel so they have to work a bit harder to stay upright. All the girls are doing well and gaining neck and core muscle strength. We learned from some of Jennifer's difficulties with gross motor development that tummy time is so important for muscle strengthening. The other milestone that we've seen in the past couple of weeks is the girls' ability to hold things. We gave each of the girls a small rattle to hold. All of them took to it quite quickly - Emily I think is going to be the leader of a marching band the way she was able to make her rattle shake. Caitlyn may need some lessons in etiquette and guidance on not hitting her sisters with hard objects. Heather enjoyed the colours and sounds of the rattle and the feel of something in her hand.

We've finally made the shift to feeding the babies every 4 hours. This, of course, was in line with our last doctor's appointment and the girls exceptional weight gains. It's only been 2 days but so far we're doing okay. We'll need to do some tweaking here and there but for now, the girls are managing well to finish larger volumes of milk in the extended time. The new schedule also affords us to have them in bed by 7:15-7:30. What are we going to do with all of this extra time......?

I haven't mentioned Jennifer too much. She continues to delight and amaze us at what a great big sister she is. She can often be heard singing "ABC's" to the babes or offering "it's okay, Jennifer's here" while patting a tummy. Equally, we've lobbed potty training at her which, at first I thought was a grave mistake however, Jennifer has proven once again that she can conquer anything she puts her mind to. Each day is new and brings with it something wonderful to share together. (okay sappy yes, but true!)

So...onto this week...we've said hello and goodbye (again) to Grandma Judy and Grandpa Ross back from their tour of Italy. We welcomed Uncle Chris and cousin Lachlan (who met the babies for the first time) here for Uncle John's memorial - and then said goodbye on Tuesday. Tomorrow we will welcome our dear friends Jenny and Archie from N. Vancouver for a brief visit.

And that's what it's been like her over the past weeks -- phew.

In no particular order, here are some images.....