Brothers

Last night around 12:30 AM I heard Andrew crying and went to his room. I opened the door immediately, assuming that he would be standing there. When I opened the door I saw a mound on the floor. Both he and John had gotten off their mattresses and were laying together, hugging each other, on the floor. I thought it was so sweet that they had found comfort in being close to each other. Little Andrew looked up and said "Mommy, tiss"! I gave him a kiss and he went right back to sleep.

My precious Wyatt slept from 9:30 PM to 6:00 AM. He is SUCH a good baby! I am not sure if it is his personality that makes him so easy, or the fact that there is just one of him, or maybe the fact that he is a term baby...or maybe it is all those things rolled into one that help make him so wonderful, but he is just a joy. Ashley and I were talking recently about how different this experience called parenting has been with him than it was with the twins. No home health, no monitors, no cardiologists, no surgeons, no physical therapists, no ENT or allergists; it is so much less stressful, but we are not taking it for granted. We are so lucky to have had this "normal" experience after having had our twins almost 3 months early. We got to hold him right when we he was born, Ashley was able to cut the cord...there were only 5 people in the room when he was born (including me)!! It has been truly wonderful.

What a weekend!!

This was a very big weekend at the Gilfillan house!

Saturday morning we headed to the zoo. We went early in hopes of beating the crowds and the heat and Ashley and I did not have very high hopes for the trip. Usually John and Andrew bicker in their stroller, want to get out and walk, do a lot of whining, etc. when we go to the zoo (or anywhere that they have to sit in the stroller for that matter). This trip was totally different though. The boys were both very interested in all the animals. They looked at each exhibit intently and made comments about certain animals. John saw a bear and said "HONEY" (that is Granny Meg's dog's name) and at the monkey exhibit Andrew said "Monkey funny"! Wyatt chilled in the baby bjorn the whole time sleeping. I think everyone there was as taken with him as they were any of the animals. Everywhere we went people smiled at us and said "awww, look at that baby!!"

Saturday night we had a birthday party for Granny Meg. The boys had fun hanging out with GM and Pop. GM read them books, Pop fed Wyatt twice, and when it was time to go to bed...the boys got to move our of their cribs. Ash took the cribs down and they slept on mattresses on the floor. We were very proud of them because it went very well. They made the transition pretty easily and have only gotten up a few times. They get up very early in the morning now, which is brutal, but I know that before long I will have to drag them out of bed to get them off to school, so I will just try to enjoy these days while they last.

5:00 AM

Andrew has taken to waking up at 5:00 AM (for the day) about three times a week. He has never been a great sleeper but when he was younger, we would just ignore the crying and he would quickly go back to sleep. The 5:00 AM wake up calls only lasted a few short minutes and then the house would remain quiet until close to 7:00 AM. Lately, however, Andrew has learned to get out of bed and beat on the door. I lock them inside of their room so that they won't roam the house or accidentally hurt Wyatt, so Andrew screams at the top of his voice "Mommy, up" (OVER AND OVER AND OVER) and beats on the door. This is really frustrating at 5:00 AM considering it is usually not the first time that we have been woken up (although Wyatt is almost making it through the night). So anyway, this morning the screaming started. I dragged myself out of bed and went in and told Andrew to hush. When I got back in bed the screams were actually louder than they had been previously. Ashley and I both laid in bed, equally tired and frustrated, when he finally got up and headed for the bedroom. I cringed, so I know Andrew did. It was magic. Within two minutes Ashley was back in bed and we never heard another peep!! I was really happy for all the surface level reasons at first: more sleep, peace and quiet, not having to get up again, etc. But as the day has gone on I am more thankful for the reasons that really matter. My boys have a consistent father who means what he says and they respect that, even at their age. They already know that there is no point in testing Ashley because they will never win...and that guy is in my corner! That is something to truly be happy about!

Hair cuts

Yesterday John and Andrew got haircuts!! Granny Meg and Wyatt went with us. Granny Meg almost always comes along for back-up! I have actually only taken them for haircuts by myself once because you never know how it is going to work out. There was one time when mom and I took them that I actually had to put Andrew in time out (still wearing his haircut cape) in the corner of the salon. Everyone looked at me like "wow, there is contestant #1 for the Mother of the Year contest!". Much to my surprise, both of the boys were AWESOME yesterday. They sat in the chairs like big boys eating their suckers while Ms. Denise transformed their near-mullets into the cutest little cuts that you have ever seen! Even though they are older now, I still hate to see that pretty blonde hair hitting the ground. During John's turn, hair fell on his sucker and he said "may-us" (that is "mess" said in most Southern accent possible) several times, which was very cute. Both boys got new hairless suckers and thanked Ms. Denise very nicely when we were done. Then we got to run through the rain back to the car. Wyatt, Granny Meg and I were all so proud of the bears!

Memorial Day Weekend

The boys had a great weekend...and so did Ashley and I!! Sandra and Will, the angels that they are, offered to keep all three boys for us this weekend so that we could have a break. It was wonderful for everyone! Andrew, John and Wyatt had a great time with Nana, Papa, Granny, Vicki and Earl and Ashley and I had a wonderful time eating out, going on the boat and relaxing! We got the boys back on Sunday after church and we were welcomed back to parenthood with a bang...or a scream. John had an upset stomach in the nursery that ruined his shorts and his socks. Everyone was hungry on the way home so all three boys screamed all the way from downtown to home. Ashley and I just looked at each other and smiled thinking "they're baaaaaaack!" The rest of the weekend was great though. Yesterday the bears and I went to see Granna Ann. She let Andrew and John ride on her new walker that has wheels and they loved it. They played outside and had a great time. Yesterday afternoon we finished up the weekend by playing outside in the sprinkler. Andrew is a bigger fan of the sprinkler and the hose than John. He loves to squirt the hose and each time before he squirts the water he says, "watch this John". Their new thing to say is "ready, set, go" which actually comes out like "RET, SET, Gooooooo". They are so cute....

And Wyatt....he is the sweetest baby in the world. I could just eat him up. He seems to be getting fatter by the day. We actually have to take his diaper off to let his rolls "air out" at night. We are so blessed to have these three beautiful boys in our lives. As Andrew would say "Thank you Jesus!!"

Another week...

Even though has been about a week since I have written anything about the three boys, there has not been a dull moment around the house. Last night we were reading books and talking about body parts. I am trying to teach them all the body parts. They know the obvious ones of course, but we were brushing up on elbows, toenails, etc. I pointed to my knee and asked John and Andrew what is was called. John, my rough and tumble child, who is constantly getting cuts and scrapes said "that's boo boo"!! I guess he has heard that he has a boo boo on his knee so many times that he thinks that is what you call a knee.

Last night Wyatt reached a particularly sweet milestone!! Just after he finished his middle of the night bottle, he started laughing hysterically! He was grinning from ear to ear and belly laughing like he has never done before. What a sweet sound.

Andrew was out of his crib (again) this morning when I went in to get he and John ready to go to Ms. Heather's. That little stinker has the best tan. He has a farmer's tan from playing outside and when I dressed him I thought about what my parents used to say to me all the time as a child..."you're as brown as a berry!"

A couple of pictures...

Wyatt smiling... John and Wyatt on the couch! John LOVES his baby brother. In this picture John is holding "wata fassy" (this is really only funny if you have actually heard him saying it).
Andy looking like a cherub...
Check out Andrew's saftey goggles that came with his Home Depot tool bench!