Oops, here's the 3rd one!

A night in the life of Seth, Will and (a tiny bit) Marcie

more videos

Crazy giggling Grace and Daddy

David makes such a funny "zombie" noise. Of course, he stopped when Gavin turned on the camera. (That's the sound of a backpack being zipped up in the background)

Just a "night in the life" of the Joneses, featuring Seth, Will and a brief glimpse of Marcie.

The others were already in bed.

Update and pictures Tuesday October 8th

"Aunt" Laurie, who used to babysit me when I was a baby, came down from Chicago for 9 days while Nanny Sam was in MI. We miss you, Laurie! This is Laurie and her sister "Aunt Nay" (Lyneé), who's here almost every day to work with Seth. We cannot thank God enough for people who love our babies almost as much as we do and sacrifice their time and energy to invest in these precious little lives. Their reward will be great in Heaven - as with that of their spouses! :)

Gracie was Aunt Laurie's very special little friend. She loves the cuddles and the play, and she flashes her toothy smile and squeals her hilarious little giggle at even the most mundane things. :)

Look closely: David has a soap bubble goatee he designed himself.
David's new favorite activity is to pick a special object (a whisk, a mylar balloon, a blanket, a jacket, and even a saucepan) and walk circuits of the house with the object in hand. It's just so funny! He's happier than ever now that he's mastered walking. I think he feels very free!

Will, Seth and Marcie felt compelled to "help" Daddy install the latest and largest baby gate. 

Poor Will is discovering these days how very frustrating it can be to have so many siblings vying for toys and attention. He gets so frustrated, angry and sad! Please pray for wisdom for us as parents to know how to prioritize who gets the holding and the attention and when. It's a challenge! Will is definitely the "Alpha" baby - and not just in size and birth order! (Will was baby "A") We love him so much and we want him to know that, even when someone else needs the holding and loving and the toy just then.

Seth and Will liked experimenting being on the different sides of the gate, although here Seth is just fascinated with a zip-tie. :)  Please keep praying that Seth will be as fascinated by and accepting of food and drink. Thankfully, he's done better the past few days after a week of frustration and refusal to eat almost every time we tried.

I'm telling you, that was one fascinating zip-tie. (See his left hand.)

The tape on Seth's face is for protecting his skin when we affix his oxygen cannula at night. He'll need oxygen for another 4-6 weeks (night only) just as supportive therapy to make sure his lungs get the time and help they need to grow and heal completely following his two recent hospitalizations. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING SETH AND ALL OF US WILL STAY WELL! We thank and praise God for the past few weeks of excellent health. What a relief! 

"Aunt Nay" again with Seth just sacked out on top of her. He was having a hard day.

Marcie is a MESS! She gets food in as fast as she can, never mind the fact that a lot of it misses her mouth. The babies are supposed to be finger-feeding themselves (and even starting to spoon-feed themselves) at this age. Self-feeding = messy feeding, as all of you know. Gavin wonders if any of the food really stays in their mouths as the floor ends up looking like the bottom of a bird cage.

The babies all had their one-year-old checkup and passed with flying colors, praise God! The pediatrician was very pleased by their development and growth. Seth was crawling all over, babbling constantly, and pulling up on the doctor's knee, and of course David had to walk all over the room holding something in his hand, I forget what. Marcie and Gracie were the charmers they always are, and Will was a bit astounding in his "bigness," especially the size of his feet. He's already in a 5!

Thanks for loving and caring about our kiddos! Thanks especially for praying and for the continued many ways in which you bless us.

Gratefully,

Carrie

 

The girls

Marcie and Gracie happy to go on their morning walk with Aunt Lynnette, looking cute as can be in yet more darling outfits from Aunt Brenda!

Marcie climbed into the jogging stroller. The kids are climbing everything! This morning David climbed up onto one of our easy chairs and tried to climb onto a side table. Thank God, Julie rescued him in time. I was in the kitchen heating up a bottle for Will. This is why we need two people on these babies if at all possible! :}

Marcie is either VERY happy or VERY broken-hearted. Her wail is the most pathetic imaginable, with giant tears. She's started doing a really cute little high-pitched "baby" voice and pointing with her tiny index finger at anything she's interested in. Apparently she's telling us about it. Her baby voice really makes its appearance when she sees any sort of stuffed animal or picture of a baby. She especially loves to point at and talk about the babies' 1-year-old birthday portraits. :)

I posted one like this a couple weeks ago, but I just found this one of Gracie alone. It's too cute not to post! The other day when I got Marcie up from her nap, Gracie was so delighted to see her sister she just couldn't stop grinning and laughing and squealing. She came over to sit with Marcie, who of course smiled and squealed right back. They are best friends!

2nd video

A couple more videos

The babies are naked because they had just finished eating and absolutely trashed their pajamas! We put them in darling clothes later (see below).

Thank you for our new sunsuits, "Aunt" Brenda!

These are a few of our favorite things

. . . our Fisher-Price mailbox (Gracie and Marcie)

. . .  grinning cheesily for the camera (Marcie Jane is a ham!)

. . . the motorcycle (Seth)

. . . stuffed animals (Gracie)

. . . balls (David)

. . . playing in our bedroom (Marcie, David, Gracie)

. . . dismantling the hard-won organization in our bedroom :}

. . . escaping to the garage - score!! (Gracie in back, Marcie approaching camera.)

. . . sunlight! (Grace)

. . . our Fisher-Price musical piano toy (Gracie and Marcie) 

. . . playing in the water fountain after rain when there's actually a tiny bit of water in the bottom bowl
(Will looks like he's scheming to dunk David)