Our little Fighter!!!

Our last, but most certainly not least, update is our youngest and brightest, Jett. Still our sensitive, shy child, he gets his feelings hurt so easily and is scared of loud or foreign things and noises. I am pretty sure he will end up being a little scrapper though, if his brother and sister don't stop taking his toys from right under his nose. He is just now learning to fight back and although he cries, he gets a good swat or two in first. He will certainly melt your heart with those big brown eyes. His eyes twinkle when he smiles and he is sure to light up the entire room. He takes a few minutes to warm up to you, looking like he is almost on the verge of tears while he takes you in. He hasn't been a fan of men (with the exception of Daddy) and just now has begun to overcome the bottom lip out quivering cry if you so much as look his way. Women have had a much easier time...another ladies man just like his big brother.

One year old...already! 

Is this really the same little boy?

Once he started to crawl there was NO turning back. He took off full throttle and disappears in a blink of an eye. He has quickly inherited the new nickname 'Dozer' as he is like a little bulldozer when he wants something. He puts his head down and goes full force and will barrel down anything in his path to get to it. He has the body of a baby football player. We have decided that he will be our contact sports athlete. :)

Love those eyes.

I don't wanna have a birthday!

He has been the 'first' twin to do most things and blazes the trail for his sister. Talking, crawling, eating and most recently walking. He took his first couple of steps and that was it, he had the hang of it and was taking steps every chance he got. Now he is walking long distances with confidence and just tonight Dylan took her first steps. We are in SO much trouble now!

Up to NO good!

 

 

His favorite pastime is playing Smash Up Derby with his siblings. He was getting jealous of Dylan's walker and although they were both not far off from taking their first steps we cracked and got him a walker too. With Blaze in his car and the twins in their walkers, no one is safe! Neyla even knows to run for cover. They zoom about banging into each other and everyone, but manage to maneuver the corners with ease, going in reverse and sideways they amaze us with their walker skills!

The last 'D' in DAD for Father's Day

His hair has grown back in and he has little curls out each side of his head. I look at him and almost daily remember back at what a sick tiny baby he was and I am in awe with how he has become such a happy and healthy little fella. He absolutely loves Nick Jr and Disney Jr. and its a major chore to try and pry his eyes off of the TV when Story Time is on. 

 

Such a sick little man. :(

Jett is a great eater, although both the twins seem to have the sensitive gag reflex like their older brother did, and so transitioning to solids has proven somewhat of a challenge. They are just now able to tolerate scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, pancakes and any sort of textured foods. Gerber Puffs don't last long in this house. They both go through a container in a matter of days. However, the switch from Similac Sensitive Formula to whole milk was a success at around 11 months for both babies with not even so much as a hiccup.

MMMM cake!

How can we separate such cuteness!

Love saying, 'Good night to Baba!'

 Both babies say, 'Dada', 'Mama', 'Baba' (brother), 'Nana' (Nanny),and 'Hi', but not interested in saying to much more then hearing themselves squeal and scream with delight. They both love to mimic all of us, from making faces, to making sounds and movements. Jett's favorite is when we say, "Yehhhhhh!", he puts both hands high over his head and has learned to yell, "Yehhhhh" too! It always gives us the biggest smile, especially big brother who is really enjoying his growing little brother and sister.

 

Gosh I LOVE this kid!!!!

He will always be my little FIGHTER and is such a joy to be around. He has become quite a Mommy's boy. He loves (and of course Mommy too) running full force into my arms and burying his head into my chest with a little giggle. I am loving being a Momma and can't imagine my life without my 3 sweet little Angels. Life is good GREAT!!!!

My Angels

Once a Diva Always a DIVA

My beautiful, beautiful girl! I must admit I LOVE having a little girl. I see the Daddy-son things Blaze does and I cant wait to have Mommy-daughter days like, visiting the salon for little finger nail painting days, clothes shopping and lots and lots of girly stuff with Dylan.

One short year ago...

Happy 1st Birthday Princess

Dylan remains the littlest Diva. She is small but mighty and lets everyone know it. She wins ALL the tug-of-wars in this household. Our little Tough Cookie! She is definitely our defiant little child, stubborn and determined. She is also our serious, but happy little girl, smiling often and squealing with delight when we enter the room. Its such an amazing feeling to come home after 13 hours at work and have Blaze run to the door with such excitement and then Dylan greet me with a huge snaggle tooth smile (only one top tooth has come in and the other is just sitting there taking its sweet ole' time) and ear piercing high-pitched scream of joy. Have I mentioned how blessed I am? ;)

Love this face!

Snaggle Tooth Girl

We have decided Dylan will be our Scientist. She uses her index finger to explore everything from the buttons on the TV remote control to the details on your face. She grabs anything that's within her reach at the blink of an eye and the tug-of-war is ON...she ain't letting go for nothing.

She absolutely loves both of her 'Ba ba's' (brothers) and crawls along behind them trying with all her might to keep up. Although a little slower, we are pretty certain it wont be long before she is leading the pack. She has been a little slower at 'baby firsts' then her little twin brother Jett but, her slow & steady attitude has made her a quick learner. She crawled about 2 weeks later then Jett taking her cautious time. Jett took his first steps just the other night and she is definitely ready but would prefer to get down and crawl still till she is certain she has this balance thing down pat. She is definitely more consistent and repetitious in her speech and she can say, 'Mama', ' Dada' , ' Nana '(Nanny), 'Baba', 'Hi', 'Hi Mama' & 'Hi Dada', and most recently, 'Dawwwgg' (dog).

 

 

 She has become a much more contented child, not demanding of ALL the attention.

HAIR!!!! Oh that hair! Dylan's bedhead hair has become some of my Facebook friends favorite photos. She has not lost one bit of it from the day she was born. I truly think it's the one big thing about Dylan. I am enjoying buying bows and trying hard to teach Daddy how to put in a pony tail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Dylan absolutely LOVES to dance. She shakes her shoulders and bounces up and down whenever she hears music. She most definitely will be our little ballerina, as she already does the most perfect arabesque and loves to be on her tippy toes. :) She can clap, and wave with an open hand and with a cute little open and closed fist as soon as she hears "hi" or "bye.".

She remains as petite as ever, and its funny to dress her in her 0-3 mth clothes at 13 mths, sometimes I think I am dressing a little doll. She still could pass for 3 months old, and so many people comment that she is SO much smaller in person then her pictures. I have deemed her my tiny, beautiful Indian Princess.

 

My girl the 'A' in DAD for Father's Day

We are so thankful for our amazing little girl and can't wait to see what the future holds for this ballerina-scientist-tenacious Diva.

One Year Old Already????!!!!!

I truly can't believe our little ones are already 1 year old?! I know it totally sounds cliche but, it really does seem just like yesterday that we were in Mumbai celebrating our first few days as a family of 5.

What an amazing year it has been! I truly feel like I am the very luckiest lady in the entire world. Every single day I DO count my blessings. I never take one single moment with each of my little ones for granted. I take in every little word, expression, smile, cuddle and kiss and cherish it with all my heart. I know how dearly blessed I am to be the Mommy to these 3 perfectly precious Angels. They are my entire world and I hope for the opportunity to be a stay-at-home Mom some day. It's certainly not in the cards any time soon, but a girls gotta dream big!!!

I am such a proud Momma. I share photos and stories and our journey with anyone who is interested. We really do get such a positive response from people. It feels so wonderful to share our story with others and see how touched they are to hear about our adventures in becoming a family.  We still continue to help in any way possible when contacted by either our clinic, SurrogacyIndia or through inquiries here on the blog. We get such touching comments about how helpful our blog is. I still can't believe what started as a journal of sorts to keep our friends and family updated long ago in April 2008 (when there were next to no other blogs or information anywhere on Surrogacy in India) has been a glimmer of light at the end of someones infertility tunnel. 

So much has changed in a year. The twins are still pretty much, itty bitty. At their 1 year check up Dylan weighed in at 14.14 lbs and 26.5 inches long, and little brother Jett topped the scales at 17.1 lbs and 28.25 inches. Dylan pretty much still fits perfectly in her 0-3 month clothes with Newborn bottoms still falling off her tiny waist. Jett is a little chunkier and wears a 3-6 month size onesie.  However as tiny as they are, they're both very healthy, just on the smaller (preemie) side of the scales (well under 10 percentile, and Dylan in the negative). It really is kinda nice though, because I don't want my babies to grow up. Being able to cradle them in my arms still is awesome. They are growing strong and changing every day. I fondly remember the daily changes with Blaze as he grew and now to see them all repeated with each of the twins is so much fun.

Soooooo, Since I have a full year to review I thought I break up the posts a little and highlight each child on their own.

So without further adeu......long, long, long awaited UPDATES!!!!!!

BLAZE: 

My handsome little man Blaze will be turning 3 this month. 3 YEARS OLD!!!!! Seriously it can't be. He grows by leaps and bounds daily. Amazing us with his intelligence and wit. He is definitely little Mr. Personality. Such a real social butterfly. He feels comfortable in a crowd and knows how to capture the attention of a room full of people of every age and make them smile.

Mommy's handsome boy

He is still a skinny minny weighing just 28lbs and wearing 12-18 mth shorts, but tall enough that people take him for a 4 year old frequently, till he tells them "there will be a '3' on my cake!"

His vocabulary is outstanding for a little fella who hasn't spent a day in daycare or with very few kids of his age group. He is usually around adults or kids older then him other then his two younger siblings. He picks up words that I find myself shaking my head at and ask, 'Where did you hear that?' He knows and says stethescope, names fruits I haven't even heard of, and can explain details of what things are and how they work. Every single day he surprises me with something new. He asks for 'plenty'of fruit and tells us when opening a sealed box its 'tricky'. He tells people, "I'm doing fine." when asked the frequent question, "How are you?"

New big boy hair cut

 Whether its from Nickelodeon Jr. or learning Spanish from Nanny he is such a sponge and remembers the smallest of details from weeks and months past. The other day while taking our family photos with our pregnant photographer, I told him she had a baby in her belly. He asked once where is the baby? I only had to explain once that the baby was in her tummy (not really ever being around any pregnant women). His response literately floored me..."Like Fatima?" He had only seen belly photos and met her on Skype when she was pregnant with the twins.

Fun with Nanny

 He is learning to share and it is proving to be a challenge with 4 little hands coming from all directions wanting what big brother has.  A couple of months ago when the both twins were off and crawling we dedided there was NO possible way to be able to watch all 3 kids safely (all those parents of multiples will totally get where I am coming from). We bought a superyard (an 8 sided 7x5 gated play area) so we can keep them in one place if we have to take our eyes off of them, or most importantly take a pee without worrying who went in which direction. Gerry has (to my dislike) nicknamed it 'the Pen'. "No my kids are not pigs!", was my immediate response, however Mommy was at work when it was constructed and Blaze caught on and the name has stuck.

The "Pen"

So...on to the story... Blaze got so upset with the twins taking his toys he looked at me with a sense of urgency in his eyes and exclaimed, "Mommy they need to go in the pen, so don't take my toys!" I couldn't help but smile as he was really serious about it and kept repeating himself almost into a frazzle of urgency. He really does love his little brother and sister and SO enjoys telling everyone who cares to listen what an amazing big brother he is. We are working on gentle play as he is most certainly a rough and tumble boy and still not quite 3. Rough housing tends to get a little out of hand at times.  Amazingly enough little sister Dylan seems to hold her own with both the boys.

Love my brother and sister

Love my Sissy

Shopping carts are getting smaller?!

Loving up my 'Baba'

But I fit?!

His favorite toy is Mommy's new iPhone. I can't get through the door fast enough for him to say, "Hi Mommy, I need to look for something on your phone please." He can access YouTube, call Daddy and carry on a full telephone conversation with 'Úm's and 'Óh ya's' and 'Oh sure.' He scrolls though pictures and videos, takes pictures and plays video,s and even managed to post on a friends Facebook wall one day. It amazes me how quickly he picks these things up.

No iPhone....the iPad will do.

He can open the fridge and get his own juice out and open the crisper for a treat too. He loves to clean with Nanny, cook and do the laundry with Mommy and help out in the yard and pool with Daddy. He still puts himself to bed when he needs a nap or its his bedtime. He knows to turn lights off when he leaves a room and what does and doesn't go in the trash and is a BIG helper to Mommy & Daddy with the babies.

Baking with Mommy

He made me laugh (and remember to watch what comes out of my mouth) the other day when Daddy put Blaze's Yo Gabba Gabba big boy underwear on Jett for a joke. I exclaimed, 'Shut up..they actually fit him?!' To which Blaze responded quite upset, 'Shut up...take them off him!'

His vocabulary is improving but still has the cutest little kid terms that make us smile. "Mines", not mine, "yestermorning" and "yesternight" are two of my favorites and honestly to me make perfect sense. And one of the cutest is instead of, "No thank you" he says, "No please."

Sweet Soul

Potty training has proven to be our biggest challenge with Blaze.  I try to keep reminding myself that 'BOYS TAKE LONGER!'  but he has had such a flawless transition with pretty much everything else I didn't think this would be so much work.  I tried a 4 day Potty Training Boot Camp a while back and poor little fella was in hysterics by the end of day one when I even mentioned the potty.  So, I decided not to push it and wait it out.  He has become the king of Potty Training excuses and the other day asked me where his Plex (Yo Gabba Gabba character) underwear was?  When I told him they were over on the dresser he said, "Oh ya he is waiting for me." "Not today, its almost dark outside." (at 11am)  So many Mommy's have told me that with boys they do it when they are ready and no kid ever goes to high school in diapers.  Whew!!!  And so we wait and hint around everyday. 

Such a GREAT dog!

He is such a good and kind-hearted child and I love to hear people say, "Is he always this good?" when we are out at a Doctor's appointment of patiently waiting in line at the post office. 

My Sweethearts

Loving brothers

It really is such a fun age. Every age seems to just get better and better and it is so wonderful to see him learn and grow each day.  I can't keep his journal up with all of the moment by moment changes. Next, stay tuned for the twins update. I will certainly try for sooner than later, I promise.

1 Year Old Sneak Peak.....more to follow