9 Month Update

I heard it four times during our doctor visits last week: "There is no reason anyone would ever know they were premies." YES!  The Fab Four are on the growth charts and making their own curve.  They are healthy.  Thanks be to God!  I firmly believe if it wasn't for the copious amounts of prayer and grace, we wouldn't be where we are.  God is good, all the time!
Here are some stats and some of my favorite things about our sweet babies!

Kathryn
6 months
weight 12 lbs 9.6 oz
height 24 in

9 months
weight 16lbs 9.6 oz 23%
height 27 in

Kathryn, it's hard to believe that you weighed 2lbs 15oz when you were born.  You officially have grown into your cheeks and they get even bigger when you grin!  You have the most hilarious giggle.  I call it your nerdy laugh as only a mama could.  You love it when your brother messes with you and giggle away!  You were the last to sit up on your own, but it looks like you're going to be second to crawl.  When it's time to eat, you lean forward with both hands on the table and with your eyes only say, "Feed me, Mommy!" Your favorite toy is the rainbow chick which you get food and slobber all over.  We can already tell you are going to be slyly mischievous   Daddy's ready (since he was too), Mommy, not so much!

Elliott

6 months
weight 15 lbs 6.4 oz
height 25.25 in

9 months
weight 20 9.6 67% oz
height 28.5 in

Our BIG boy!  We are continuously amazed at how big you're getting.  You amaze us.  You have the most content temperament.  You will sit, rock and play happily for the longest of times.  You're especially happy when you have your favorite toy, the bird ring.  You will cry if one of your sisters takes it from you.  I'm actually proud of you that you've started to grab it back!  Boy's got to stand up to all those girls.  You're still Mr. Sunshine and oh so ticklish.  Mommy can just look at you and you'll start giggling, but her favorite is when she kisses your stomach.  Too funny.  You're becoming more interested in crawling.  You pivot really well--especially when trying to get to your Elmo! 

Emerson
6 months
weight 14 lbs 9.6 oz
height 24 in

9 months
weight 19 lbs 65%
height 27.5 in

Oh, Miss Em!  If we only knew you'd develop so fast!  First of all, you feel so much better.  We got your acid reflux medicine correct and your temperament changed completely.  You now smile with your entire face and have the most gregarious of giggle!  It warms our hearts.  If anyone would have told me that one of my premie babies would crawl at 8 months (6 1/2 months adjusted), I'd have laughed at them...then I'd have to apologize.  Apparently, you were born to move.  Just after Chrisitmas, you started crawling.  It didn't take you long to master that completely.  Now, you're FAST,  you bulldoze over your siblings  you pull up on everything, and can cruise the couch.  Our mouths gape at your skill often.  You love to clap, clap and babble all the time.  Girl, you've got plans!

Thompson

6 months
weight 13 lbs 1.6 oz
height 24.5 in

9 months
weight 17 lbs 1.6 oz 32%
height 27.5 in

Miss Thompson, we're glad to see your sparkle back!  Just after we got Emerson feeling better, you started to feel bad and boy did you let us know it!  We thought you had silent reflux, but Dr. Mason and I figured out you have chronic rinitis...you had post nasal drip all the time.  Babydoll, I'd be crying all the time too if I had that!  Then we realized that you were having a horrible reaction to the Synigis shot y'all received to prevent RSV.  Three months in a row, you were miserably sick 3 days after the shot.  So, no more of that for you.  We're relieved since it made you (and us) miserable for about two and a half weeks, then you'd get the shot again in another week and a half.  We wanted to have our sweet Thompson girl for longer stints than that!  Thank goodness you finally feel better.  Your Daddy can get the best giggles out of you. Now, you enjoy sitting up and don't totally freak out if you fall over.  You still love to give Mommy hugs, but she's not going to complain about that at all!

Mason
3 1/2 years old.
Tall--long arms and torso (just like Daddy)

Can't forget the big boy!  Mason, you absolutely adore preschool (even though you didn't go much in January due to cold temps and snow) and I love asking you what you and your friends do each day.  I'm so proud of you that you play with more than one friend at a time and your compassion continues to come through with each of them.  Your imagination is bigger than the biggest thing you could ever imagine!  Daddy and I look at each other in amazement daily at what you think up.  You are an awesome big brother.  You've started sharing some of your toys and you know just how to make each baby smile and laugh!  I love that you have to start your day by kissing each of them on the head.  You warm my heart daily with your I love you's and snuggles.

If you couldn't tell, these blessings keep us busy.  Shawn Thomas and I are working to find more balance.  We have our nightly clean up routine down pat and more time to enjoy each other.  We're also ready to add exercise into our time.  That means getting up and going to bed earlier, but we know it's what we've got to do and it will be worth it.
It's hard to believe that the Fab Four will be 1 year old in less than three months.  Like I've said before, it's hard, but it's our hard and we wouldn't trade it for the world!

Oh and go check out a friend of mine's website.  Heather is amazing and so are her ideas and the products she supports!  www.domesticdomestic.com

Thoughts on this lovely life we're living...

Nine months.  NINE MONTHS!  Can it be?  Yes, we deserve it.  We deserve to be here at nine months.  Wow, what an exciting, challenging, grace-filled time it has been.  I do realize it's been a looonggg time since I've updated the blog.  To be honest, I write in my head a lot.  But when it comes down to it, when I do have some free time, I haven't come here to write.  I sew a little, I read a little, I cook a little.  But most of my time is taken up by caring for and playing with the five most amazing children I'll ever have!  And I'm okay with that.
Many people continue to ask us how we do it.  Our answer is always the same:  with a lot of help.  I've always said you do what you have to do because you have to do it.  You'd do it too if this was your life because you want the best for your children.  This is a challenging live to lead, but I feel like we are in a phase where 'having to do it' is more fun than a lot of work.  Well, it's still a lot of work, but when work becomes clapping, laughing, playing, and gibbering (yes, there's still laundry) your perspective shifts as it always will!
I learned a great line from watching a TED video several months ago:  Hard is HARD.  There is no sense in comparing your life to mine when life is hard for everyone.  This is our HARD.  Yours may look completely different (and probably does!).  But this is ours and we choose to share the love, smiles, laughter, and good times with you because getting bogged down in the bad-harder stuff has never worked for me.  It's not a pretty place to live and even though I go there sometimes--who doesn't--I refuse to live there.  There's just too much good that God has graced us all with and that's that.
I hope this video explains it.

The Fab Four are nine months old and Mason is getting closer to being a 4 year old.  I've got more on that, but right now, I hear babies waking up from nap (and I hear a big boy playing instead of napping) and I've got some clapping, laughing, and playing to do.