Movin' On Up

Sorry we haven't posted in a while, but things have been pretty busy around the Clifford house and the JU campus the last month. August was great and the babies have really grown lately. All three have been sitting very well for the past month or two. This was great for them as they experienced a new"point of view" from the upright position! They really enjoy getting to play and interact with one another and there is nothing cuter than when they sit and smile and laugh at each other. We're wondering if they will create their own triplet language down the road!

Another huge milestone that we were definitely not ready for was crawling. Yes, Adah is officially on hands and knees and making her way around the house. Baby proofing was kicked into high gear once this happened! Sam has also started to crawl over the last couple of days as well. His biggest motivation is a bottle sitting across the room. We have never seen him move that fast ... that boy loves to eat! Peyton is still very content to sit and observe, which is fine with us!

We've gone swimming a few times and all 3 babies now really enjoy it. If we have to live in the 90 degree heat half of the year, we might as well spend it in the pool! We've had a lot of trips out to lunches and to visit Nonni and Grandad as well. We're looking forward to October when we're making our first big trip with the babies up to Charlotte for Mimi's (Matt's mom's) wedding. It will be fun to see her as well as Bogey (Matt's dad), Marmie (Matt's dad's wife Martha), Aunt Meghann and future Uncle John. We're excited to see everyone in Charlotte!

We did go to the doctor at the beginning of August (7.5 months) and everyone was doing great. Dr. Walker has a lot of fun seeing her babies and they loved seeing her as well. Sam was 18 pounds, Adah was 17.5 pounds, and Peyton was 15.5 pounds. We will go back at the end of September (for their 9 month visit!!), so it will be interesting to see how much they have grown since then. We are now trying and eating a bunch of solids and so far they love the fruits and their oatmeal. Not such a big hit ... peas and avocado. I guess like most kids these three don't love their vegetables as much as fruit! They've also started using sippy cups in between meals just to get used to them. They somewhat have the idea of how they work and will drink for a little bit, but more often than not the cups end up being used as water-spewing projectiles or makeshift hammers for banging on toys!

Matt's busiest time of the year (August) has finally waned and he is enjoying having the students back on campus. I have to brag because he is going full steam on his dissertation and he has already written 65 pages!! If you know Matt, you know he tends to be a little "long winded", so this is probably only about 25% of the paper, but it's great progress. He's aiming for an ending date in December 2009 at the latest, but he's done so well that we're hoping he can possibly push it to August 2009! Peyton, Sam, and Adah are very proud of their Daddy for working so hard!

Until next time, thanks for keeping up with us! We'll post some new pictures as well!