Two ONE year OLDs!

And what a year it has been! It is hard to imagine that while life is still difficult at times, it used to be so much harder! Days when the feedings never seemed to end, nights when we’d find ourselves stumbling down the hall to feed babies – feeling drunk from tiredness. When getting out of the house was a huge accomplishment, and it actually seemed questionable if we were going to get through each day. The days flew by but the hours were so long. And now here we are…with babies that sleep! (Now we just have to get Isaac on the sleeping train…)

We celebrated the one year mark with all the grandparents – a small thank you lunch for getting us to this point! We have appreciated their weekly help beyond what could ever be expressed. While we can now officially manage life on our own now (phewf!), it is so special to have the grandparents so involved in our kids’ lives.

The next phase starts next week, with Cadence and Asher joining Isaac at Stepping Up daycare. For awhile, Lindy was dreading going back to work as it is unimaginable having to add an 8 hour day to our lives…but as the transition creeps up, it has become easier to look forward to. Cadence and Asher are getting more restless at home and are resisting their restrictions with more persistence. Changes at Lindy’s work have also been encouraging for Lindy’s return, as it means taking on a new and challenging project and being able to work close to home again!

The year mark has brought many changes with the babies, as they are turning into little toddlers. Already in sight are the toddlers’ strong opinions and likely tantrums! Cadence and Asher both walk as their main form of transportation now, but are luckily still in slow motion, though they do tend to go in opposite directions. As their personalities develop, we continue to see more differences between all three kids. Cadence is focused on fine motor skills, trying to eat with utensils, do puzzles, and waving whenever we say hi. Asher has learned to push his ride-on toys up to other furniture to climb up higher, and is constantly surprising us with his escape routes and newest conquests. He never uses the door to get into his new car, and climbs over it instead. Asher plays pretty well independently, while Cadence spends more time pointing to everything over head and wanting to be held up to see. She will sit for long periods to turn pages in books, and will bring us book after book to be read to her. They both hate when doors or gates are closed and they are left behind. They can’t be left out of sight for even a minute, with the latest example when Lindy turned around to find Asher in the bathroom sink! Unfortunately the fighting has started already too – but it is mainly Cadence who keeps walking up to Asher and bonking him on the head or pushing him out of the way!

Isaac is excited for his siblings to join him at daycare, and was stoked for their birthday (but mainly for the cake). He is getting better about playing with them, though sharing is a work in progress. They are starting to focus on kindergarten preparation at daycare, so there have been some noticeable improvements to his habits. He is very verbally expressive about his and other’s feelings, constantly asking us why we are so frustrated!! 🙁 Isaac’s extensive vocabulary continues to expand, with him now using words like ‘integrated’ and ‘orientation’ properly in sentences. He has also started telling us he loves us, which feels very rewarding.

So thanks again to the numerous people involved in our survival of the first year with 3 kids – we made it! While some try to tell us that it should get easier from here, we know better…it will just get different but we look forward to the next phase to start!