Two walkers in the house!!!

Pics: Kendall in the front yard. Daddy and Clark (pulling Daddy's hair - a new favorite pasttime is pulling hair!). Emma and Auntie Karen giggling. Clark in the grass. Warren Jr, Cindy, Uncle Warren, Aunt Barbara, Nana and the three kids (Kendall was VERY fond of Cindy but Ems was being fussy at picture-time). Grandpa's special bunny cake. Mealtime at the counter in our clip-on chairs. The carnage below them after dinner. Bring on the FOOD! Emma the paci-theif (note that she has all THREE pacifiers at this point!). Clark and Kendall playing with the keyboard. Kendall watching The Masters (golf) on TV (for the record, we had her dress bunched-up in a rubber band because she kept tripping over it). All three babies in the super zone set up at Grandpa's on Easter Sunday.


Yup, you read it here first...there are TWO walkers in the house. Both girls are officially on two feet these days. Emma was the first to really take the plunge and is already trying to RUN. Kendall has been a little more hesitant, but tonight she was definitely more interested in walking upright than crawling. And boy are they working hard at it! They are constantly tumbling over and just keep getting back up for more. I'm so glad that they don't seem to get very frustrated by their clumsiness. Clark actually took a few steps between Mommy and Erica on Saturday morning, but he doesn't seem to be ready to just let go yet.

They are learning so much and are SO curious. Everything is a new discovery and every trip out of the play area is a new adventure. On Friday and Saturday evening, we had them out in the grass in the front yard. Clark was all over the place and excited to touch grass, leaves, etc. Once they got over the initial fascination, they quit putting every piece of yard waste into their mouths. You can see the sense of wonder on their faces when their bare feet touch the cool grass. They are excited to walk and stumble in it as well.

The babies met their Great Aunt Barbara and Uncle Warren this weekend as well as cousin Warren Jr and Cindy, who drove to Knoxville from Greensboro, NC. We had a really nice visit and managed to get the kiddos to do almost all of their "tricks". We were sorry that we didn't get to see the whole family before they left this morning, but the babies partied a little too hard Saturday evening and didn't get up until 9am today.

All three babies had colds beginning last Thursday and lasted until this Friday. One question I intend to ask God is "Where does all of that snot come from?!?!?" Seriously, it was unbelievable. The kids were pretty miserable at times. We have humidifiers in all three rooms as well as vapor plug-ins to help relieve some of the congestion. It was an all out snot-fest around here, but it looks like we have come to the end of this round. What a relief!

On top of that, Clark was getting TWO new teeth this week. His nickname, "Howler Monkey" really fit this week as he spent most of the day crying or whining. Poor thing. I have to admit, I'm a terrible mommy and really just wanted the whining to STOP. But I did feel so sorry for him because I knew it must feel awful and then the crying created more snot...which means it was a vicious cycle of crying and snot and blowing the nose...you get the idea.

In other news, some of you may know that I've had trouble with my wrist since last summer. I was told that it was tendonitis and very common with new moms because of the motions to change diapers, pick up babies, etc. Multiply that times three babies and I had a problem and no way to "take a break" to let it heal. It was very painful and really limited my ability to hold the kids and do certain tasks and activities. It was hard to give them baths, load them into car seats, etc. Writing and typing were also very uncomfortable (See??? I had a reason for not blogging more!). The good news is that I'm 100% PAIN FREE today! I went to a specialist and he gave me a cortisone shot in my wrist (um, ouch), but I was willing to do just about anything if it meant that I would no longer have wrist pain. I'm SO thankful that the shot worked and hope that it means I can be hauling the kids around easier by myself now.

We had Easter dinner at Grandpa's house last Sunday with Uncle Stevie and Uncle Albert. The adults ate first and then we perched the kids in the clip-on chairs on the bar. They didn't seem to mind being up so high and enjoyed the turkey, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, rolls and Grandpa's special bunny cake! They were all feeling pretty yucky with the colds and Clark was having an especially tough day, but we were glad to get to spend time with family.

Anyway, babies are sleeping peacefully right now and I'm headed for bed as they kept mommy hopping until about 1:30AM last night. We hope to be headed to Nashville in about 10 days or so. Aunt Marsha is getting ready for the onslaught of the Louis family. :) We will welcome the change of scenery.