Bottles for all four boys

We just returned from a baby shower for our friends John and Laura. Little did we know that Rob would win a prize for a drinking contest. He was challenged by the dad-to-be to drink milk from a baby bottle. As if Rob has never done that before...

The boys continue to change and grow every day. They have dropped their third nap. The first week transitioning to this new schedule was a bit rough considering they had not yet extended their awake time. But they are now awake for about 3-3.5 hours, typically take two 1 hour 15 minute naps and continue to sleep 12 hours at night. We'll take it! But we have noticed that Charlie, whenever he hits a new milestone, will wake up in the middle of the night and will scream for 2 hours. It is so frustrating since there is nothing we can do - you can't rock him to sleep (he thinks it's playtime), you can't put him in the swing for long periods (he escapes the swing even when buckled in) - so you just have to listen to him cry until he falls asleep. Thankfully, Win and Wes sleep through this.


Winston

Win does a great job sitting on his own. He has the occasional topple, but it is mostly because he is busy playing with a toy that he forgets to put his hand out to catch himself! He has his bottom two teeth, and his top two are about to poke through any moment. Win is definitely making progress on the floor - mostly backwards. It's very sweet to listen to him practice his sounds and volumes - especially when you catch him whispering "dadadadadadada". Rob actually was sitting with him one day and would say "Dada" and kiss him and then say "Mama" and jokingly pinch him. Seriously.
Charlie

Charlie has a great big smile, filled with four teeth and his little tongue always curled up to his lip. He does not stop moving. Even while sleeping, you will find him stroking his stuffed animal. He too is sitting on his own, but you will rarely see it because he is always cruising about. He did actually just start going from his belly to a seated position! I don't know what you call it (creeping? crawling? charlie-ing?), but he will get up on his hands and feet or knees and launch himself forward. We discovered our internet connection wasn't working this morning and then realized that Charlie had actually made his way over to and turned off our modem. Perhaps it's time to baby-proof the house? He too is practicing his sounds, and like his brothers, has a lot to say. He even has a raspy, Bert & Ernie laugh that he often does, which is fitting since we often call him "Chuckles".
Wesley


Wes is also doing a great job sitting. It's so nice to be able to seat him somewhere and know that (with enough toys to keep him occupied), he'll stay right how I left him. Wes also has his four front teeth and is very vocal. Wes normally wakes up babbling (perhaps he's talking to his brothers?), and the longer we wait to come get them, the louder he gets. He does a great job on his belly (for awhile it was hard for him because he would get painful gas bubbles and reflux), and he now moves his arms and legs furiously. He'll be crawling any day! But Wes' most fantastic accomplishment to date is that he has held all of his own bottles today! Dreams are coming true with the thought of the boys holding their own bottles. To date, it has always taken two people to feed the three of them (or we would have to stagger them to feed one, then the other two at the same time). I can't begin to express how excited I am about this!