I wish I could be a fly on the wall of the nursery

It's bedtime around here. The girls were just talking and giggling and squealing together. I could only peek in enough to see Marcie was standing up, but I could sure hear Grace's little laughter and sweet, soft little "ba-ba-ba-ba" punctuated by her laughing squeals. Of course, as soon as Marcie realized I was peeking in and didn't come all the way in to deliver her from sure and certain sleep, she had to start complaining. :} Grace is letting her take charge of that. Frequently when one stops complaining the other one(s) will start up as if they were just waiting for the first one to drop the baton, so we'll see if Gracie picks up the refrain when Marcie quits. (Update: both fell asleep without any more fussing, thankfully!)

Other quint news tidbits:

Marcie continues to charmingly barrel head-first through life, letting nothing (including siblings) stand in her way. She still falls a lot, but today when I saw her fall out of the corner of my eye I just ignored her. When she saw that I wasn't watching, she picked herself up and kept going, no fussing at all. :) EVERY time she sees me, she needs me to hold her and she lays her head on my shoulder. Then she'll go off and play again; it's so cute to be so loved! She's definitely a momma's girl.

The lower kitchen drawer (a "safe zone") is the babies' favorite place to find new "toys." This is Marcie - who tends to do the splits while standing - and Will in the doorway, obliging me with a huge smile. Marcie was too busy just then.

David is standing for prolonged periods of time and cruising back and forth across the furniture. He's also getting into everything possible (see below) and is mad about the cabinet locks that have thwarted his playing in the trash can.  He is very, very attached to a plastic noise-maker stick. As Aunt Deb says, "Have stick, will travel." It's so funny to watch him crawl around with it. He's more of a daddy's boy.

We sanitized David's hands after this little exploration.

Will started pulling to standing in his crib. (He's been pulling to standing for a while now, but the pack 'n' play is a little trickier because of its mesh sides) I find it so cute to go in and see Marcie, David or Will standing up and just waiting for us to come get them.

Will is definitely the most excited about/by his siblings. He just adores having them around! His sweet dimpled smile takes over his whole face when he sees another baby coming out to join him, or when I bring him out from his bed to where the others are playing. He seems to be more a momma's boy than daddy's boy at the moment, but that could change tomorrow.

Exuberant, communicative Will

Seth continues to be the sweetest, happiest baby alive, I think. It's amazing to see how bonded he is with me and how much he loves people in general when I think back to those months he spent in a plexiglass box with a tube down his throat. For 2.5 months no one could hold him, and sometimes we couldn't even touch him without his oxygen saturations plummeting because it was so stressful to him. Clearly that traumatic time in his life hasn't harmed his precious personality, praise God!

Seth is sweet while asleep too, but then I guess all babies are!

It's not that the other babies aren't sweet, too, it's just that they tend to be more focused or driven, more busy to get to their desired goals, more demanding to receive attention. Seth just sits there, plays with what he can reach - and his reach is ever-increasing!, and loves everyone around him. As soon as he catches anyone's gaze he breaks into the most winning baby-toothed smile! It makes you feel like a million dollars.

Gracie is a daddy's girl and is the sweetest little babbler and arm-flapper when relating to people. The flapping arms mean "Pick me up!" The babbling is very happy and utterly darling. She's very busy, and as soon as she finds a new toy the other kids tend to rush her to take it away. Poor little thing! I gave her the spoon from my coffee mug today (always highly prized) and she had to fight to keep it and kept losing the fight. But the other babies would lose interest quickly and drop it in front of her again, so she'd pick it up and keep playing with it. She only fusses a little bit when she is stolen from, whereas Will and Marcie yell in frustration! David bears the theft of his toys remarkably well, as did Seth until a few days ago. He had finally had it with Marcie stealing his toys, so when she robbed him and sat down right in front of him with her back to him so he couldn't reach the toy, he YELLED and grabbed her and shook her. It was hilarious! I intervened on that one. :)

Sweet little Gracie

I'm being hit by waves of sleep, so I'll close this very long post.

Love and gratitude,
Carrie