Back to work, crawling, sleep and food! All sorts of fun.

Well, September marked many changes in the Huber house!  For one, I'm back to work part-time, and it's so nice to be back. Ten hours a week is just enough to keep me sane. Work is a billion times easier than taking care of 3 kids.  Hats off to those who are full-time Moms!

And, Mr. Beck Beck started crawling, at exactly 6.5 months (just like big sister).  He's also a commando crawler (drags himself across the room), but is very close to hands and knees crawling.  Maren is mastering the "roll and go", rolling herself across the room as needed.  She rolled over to the bookcase this morning and picked out a book!  I always said I wanted these guys to take their time getting mobile, but it's so fun to see them go.

We're also sleeping more these days. The twins moved out of our room and into theirs last week, and it's made a huge difference in their sleep.  They now only get up 1-2 times at night, whereas 4-6 wakeups was the status quo for a looooooong time.

But, the biggest news is that Maren and Beckett have started eating food!  We decided to go full-steam ahead with BLW (baby led weaning) and skip purees.  We'd done mostly BLW with Maeve, so were quite sure we'd go that route with the twins. And, the thought of spoon feeding two babies at once didn't really appeal to me.

It was no surprise to anyone that Maren got the hang of things very quickly.  Beckett took a few days to get comfortable, but both of them are eating with us every night now.  It's amazing to see them actually getting food into their mouths!

Maeve is the best big sister, as always.  She sits next to them every night, and takes great interest in their eating.

A day at the farm.

Today is Open Farm Day in Nova Scotia, so we decided to head to South Rawdon to visit Grass Roots Heritage Breed Farm.  I'd had their free range poultry in the past (yummy), so I thought the kids would enjoy a trip to the farm.

Getting 3 small kids out of the door is no small feat, so we started getting ready when the twins went down for a nap at 8 am.  Laying out clothes for 3 kids, packing the diaper bag, gathering up a few snacks, getting myself dressed, charging the battery on the camera, finding the cell phone...you get the idea. Amazingly, we were out the door by 9:45.  It's still a bit sad that it took 1 hour and 45 mins to get ready though!

As usual, Beckett whined most of the way.  We'd hoped his new carseat would solve his hatred of car rides, but no suck luck. 

Once we arrived, Maeve was eager to see all the animals.

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Maren and Beckett were "meh" about the whole thing.  Maren didn't like the dogs that were barking, and Beckett wanted to be jiggled in the Beco.

The best part is that my freezer now has yummy food in it!

These are a few of my favourite things...

I wish I could photo capture so many of these moments, but for now I'll document them here for posterity. All 3 of my kids are really cute right now. Well,to be fair,  they are all sleeping at this exact moment while I sip a glass of wine, so I think that makes them extra cute. ;)

Maeve:

A few of my favourits Maeve-isms:

• "But I'll miss you so much!"  Said as you walk to the bathroom, bedroom, laundry room, etc.
• The mixing up of "her" and "she" is very cute.  "Her said so!"
• The world of Maeve is one big song, on repeat.  We recently started singing a Raffi tooth brushing song that goes something like "when you wake up in the morning and it's a quarter to two, you brush your teeth" and it's been on repeat for a week in Maeve's brain.
• The 'princess' fanatacism.  She is so enamoured with her princess dresses.  I wish I could love an inanimate object as much as she does.

Maren:

•  I love how she clutches onto me at night, when she insists on coming into our bed.  Actually, it's a love/hate thing, but right now I love it.
• The hair that slightly resembles Don King, or an orangutan.  Either way, it's cute.
• The way she looks at Maeve with such adoration

Beckett: 

• Beckett is the wildcard. He both laughs and cries at the most random things.
• He's got the most amazing "charmer" smile, guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
• The way he looks up at me when he nurses....ack, so cute.
• Beckett seems to be the "cat whisperer", luring both of our cats into his clutches.  And, I literally mean clutches. We routinely pry the fur from his hands.

At this moment, I feel like the luckiest Mom in the world.

We survived the first 6 months!

Shouldn't fireworks be going off or something?

My good friend, Sarah, reminded me that I'd once said "If I can survive the first 6 months, I'll be ok".  I think that was my future self telling my tired past self that everything was going to be ok.  And it is.  Night sleep is still awful, but days are so much better.  They are getting into a schedule, and it is getting much easier to get out and about as well.  They don't mind the stroller as much, now that they can sit more upright, and even seen to enjoy it on certain days. 

They've survived the heat wave and the hurricane, the half a dozen colds brought home from daycare by big sister, and are looking more grown up every day.  I'd forgotten how much I *love* this age.  Every day is a new discovery.  A few recent highlights:

Beckett is almost crawling!  He can shimmy backwards and sideways, but not forwards (thankfully). He's still the busy one of the two, *always* in perpetual motion. He's also the early riser, waking the house at 5:30, chanting ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay- until we come and get him.  His reflux is beautifully under control, so breastfeeding is going well, and we're just around the corner from solids

Maren is our oasis.  She's a quiet, scrumptiously chubby, cuddly baby. Her favourite thing to do in the world is snuggle. She's the one who ends up "sleeping in" with me in the mornings with Brent gets up with the early risers (Beckett and Maeve).  Her next favourite activity is chewing on her big toe - she loves it!  She's also a people watcher and loves busy places.  She's generally quiet and observant, but will kick up a stink if she thinks her milk source is being threatened. She's also learning to move, but isn't quite making the progress that Beckett has in that department. Have I mentioned she likes to cuddle? Yum.

Overall, we're doing well. As I mentioned, sleep is awful.  I just need to keep reminding myself that it won't last forever. I go back to work part-time next week, which I have mixed feelings about.  I'm ready for the adult interaction, but wish I was a bit more rested. Work days will be crazy days, but I've got my awesome Mom here to help with Brent is away so I will survive!

And now, a few more pictures, just because they are cute.