Oh my… a year flew by. I know we moms always say it, but it really is remarkable how fast it all goes.

Bell just brings so much light to our home. She is beautiful, sweet, funny and oh-so-sunny. Even though the boys occasionally say, “I don’t want a sister anymore” when she cries in the car, they are so happy to be big brothers… and I think she’s beginning to realize how lucky she is to be born into this crazy household. It used to be that the squeals they made when I got home from work would frighten her. No more. She now just looks at them and giggles.

She’s not quite walking yet, but SO CLOSE. She’s standing alone and walking holding the wall… any day now. Her first word(s) was “Hi Baby.” She said it for the first time on Christmas when I was reading her a book with a baby. I said, “Hi Baby” and she repeated it perfectly. Chris’ mom and I just about flipped. Since then, she says it to everyone… including grown men. It’s adorable.

She’s still a giant. Over 100% in height and 85% in weight. It’s just been so nice to have a big, healthy baby… so much less to worry about than when we had the boys! Sometimes I worry that I’m TOO laid back about her eating. I remember nearly measuring every meal the boys had (not to mention all the medication), and with her, I rarely pay attention!

More later on her birthday, but here’s a video of our little lady at 1 year old.

Had a great new years with the Appelbaums. Ms. Karin came over to feed us some of her tasty grub (a welcomed break from mom and dad’s!) and her kids – Mason and Cameron – stayed up to ring in the new year until 12:30 am!!! It’s the latest we’ve ever been up, and we probably could have been up for another hour with no problem.

To give you a hint as to the alcohol consumed, Mr. Mark used to be a bartender, and was whipping up the Long Island Iced Teas like it was (still) his job. Needless to say, we had our first family sleepover. Woot.

What a great way to kick off a new year!

Cheers,
Quinn

Again… a lot of buildup, but it was worth it! We had a great Christmas Eve complete with Grammy, Deanna (our fabu nanny), Emma (the best thing out of South Africa), Tia, Uncle Chancey and Baby Stella. Our tradition on Christmas Eve is that we all exchange presents and Christmas day is all about Santa. Mom and dad got us way cool slippers and jimmies – also a tradition.

In addition to a few really fun toys Santa brought (remote controlled robots, batman building, dragon dungeons and star wars transformers), we also got big kid booster seats for the car – which honestly, we were super stoked about. Mom did it as kinda a joke to make the presents under the tree look full, but it ended up being a big hit. Note taken for Santa!

Overall, it was a great Christmas and we feel all our good behavior paid off!

Merry Christmas to all!
Cooper (and family)

P.S. (No mailed Christmas card this year, but here’s our electronic one!)

P.P.S. You gotta check out our response from Quinn on opening a present from Mimi

Mom and dad thought it would be fun for us to take BART into the city (only a 25 minute ride) to see all the lights and go ice skating at Union Square. Fun it was! I was absolutely fearless on the skates, and Cooper impressed me too with his bravery. Bell is another story, but I guess I’ll give her until next Christmas to get her skillz down.

The best part of the whole trip was when we were on our way back on BART waiting for our train. The UC Berkeley band was also waiting for their train with instruments galore. I FREAKED OUT when I saw a tuba and ran up to look at it. The guy was cool enough to put it around my neck (whilst holding some of the weight) to let me see what it felt like. Unbeknownst to him, I laid my germ-ridden lips right on the mouthpiece and gave it a hoot. The ladies went nuts. Literally. There were some really cute women standing around who gave me a huge round of applause. I think this might be the first time I ever flushed with embarrassment. Cooper also got a whack at it, which was way cool for him.

Tis the season!
Quinn

Bell is getting really cool. She’s starting to blab – no words, just blabbing. She’s waving now, which we are all overly impressed with. And she laughs. Laughs and laughs and laughs. Particularly at me. She LOVES when I make faces at her and when Cooper talks to her. She loves reaching for our faces and clapping her hands. She’s 9 months now, and according to her doctor, she’s off the charts tall and 85% in weight. How embarrassing it will be if she turns out taller than me in 2 years?!?!

Eating my broccoli like mad to prevent it.
Quinn

So, it’s been a while since we’ve been on vacation as a family, so we took the plunger – I mean plunge.

For years we’ve been hearing about Club Med at Ixtapa, Mexico. Many families in the Bay Area go there because it’s relatively easy to get there and parents actually get a vacation. You see, they have something called Kids Club that is basically a fun daycare for children so everyone can have a little fun and relaxing time (Quinn and I were registered, but the ‘rents thought Bell was a little too young). The only problem is that Quinn and I are strange birds and would rather hang out with mom and dad than do crazy cool stuff with other kids our age. Yes, we’re weird. And mom and dad felt bad because after all, it’s our vacation too, so we probably spent about 10 hours total in the Kids Club for the full week.

It was also a real treat because Deanna (our nanny) came with us, so we had tons of fun and lots of attention from the people who love us most. And it turns out, it was crucial that she was there because EVERYONE GOT SICK except for her and Bell, who we kept far, far away from our sick rooms. It started with dad, then the boys were sick sick sick for 2.5 days. And then mom. Poor mom – on the last two days of the trip she was out of commission. So basically, every day, someone was sick.

That didn’t stop us from having a great time, though. When we weren’t sick, we swam in the “kiddie poll” that was ginormous and 3 feet deep (perfect for us!), got thrown in the air by dad in the pool, swung on the trapeze (not us – just mom and Deanna), took walks on the beach, made loads of sand castles, and on and on and on. For some strange reason, I kept telling mom and dad that I wanted to go home. They’ve still not figured that one out yet, but I think I missed my routine and my toys.

All in all, we swam like fish, ate like kings (though mom and dad were surprisingly disappointed with the food at the resort), and slept like bears in hibernation. Oh, and learned what “virgin drink” means. ☺ We’ve now learned that that is what vacation is all about!

Standing firm on having ONLY drinks with umbrellas,
Cooper

How lucky am I? Mom just took a job that has her home on Fridays with me and my brothers, I’ve got two awesome brothers to protect me when I’m older (certainly not today, when they have no idea how much smaller I am than them!), AND I’ve got the coolest cousin, who happens to be a little lady like me.

I’m so excited to grow up with her and show her the ropes. I am, after all, a whole 6 months older.

Growing like mad,
Bell

The day has finally come. I actually think the build up of Halloween has been more fun for the kids than the actual day. Kinda like New Years…

We had a great time at a friend’s house and the boys got LOADS of candy. We have a rule in our house that when it comes to candy, they are allowed to eat the number of pieces as they are years old. So this year, they get to eat 4 pieces of candy on Halloween, and 4 pieces every day until their candy runs out (which will last less than a week). It’s adorable that they don’t even know yet what a rip off this is and don’t even try to ask for more! Of course I’ll try to pull this off as long as I can, but have a feeling that next year I’ll be called on my scam!

Another annual Halloween “tradition” we’ve got in our house is donate half of their candy to the local Children’s Hospital so the children there get to enjoy Halloween as well – even if they weren’t able to go trick or treating. The boys are so proud of this – and it makes my heart warm (not to mention keeping the boys’ teeth in their heads!).

Happy Halloween!
Terra

Mom was just watching me this morning and realized it had been a couple weeks since she took pictures of my quickly evolving self and began a photo shoot while the boys were watching their morning program and I was rolling around. I’m basically all smiles all the time. What’s not to smile about?!

P.S. Mom’s favorite picture is the one of the boys on the couch with the painting of her standing over them. Symbolism at its best.

Growing,
Bell

Life is just grand. Yes, there are times when Bell is screaming in the car and I want to jump out, but for the most part, we’re one big, wild, happy family. Lately we’ve been doing a lot of fun stuff. The weather in October is the best in the Bay Area, and we’ve been taking full advantage.

We’ve also been having fun indoors. Bell is getting to be a pretty cool gal, and we are really starting to make her smile. She LOVES when I make faces at her. Especially in the bath.

And there’s more fun to come – Halloween is around the corner (and we won’t stop talking about it!).

Peace out,
Quinn

Ok – mom’s been holding out on me. You see, there’s this thing called “food” that feels really funny in your mouth. I have been eating cereal for a little bit now (pic above), and I’m used to that, but some food has a taste to it! She tried to give me something called Avocado today, and I sure put on a show. The faces I made were ones I’ve never made before. Didn’t even know I *could* make them. So the road of food-eating human begins. Hopefully the tastes improve and I’m more successful down the road.

For now, I’ll keep my lips zipped.
Bell

I met my best friend today. Mom’s best friend/sister (”Uncle Jackie”) had a baby (Baby Terra) just 5 days before me and she came out with her mom and dad to meet the Carmichaels! My brothers love to kiss her feet and we just like to hang on the couch together. This is a funny story: my mom dressed me up in this cute little polo number because she knew her preppy best friend would love it. And out comes Baby Terra in the EXACT SAME OUTFIT! Boy, was mom ever right! So, even though my brothers are twins and have never worn a matching outfit in their lives, here we sat, dressed in the exact same dress.

Even though we look like we’re ready to hit the tennis courts in Greenwich, we sure do look cute. (Uh… except Baby Terra’s stretch face. As her best friend, I took it upon myself to tell her that she needs to ask for her privacy next time she needs to stretch. And for the love of God, don’t allow cameras to capture it! What’s next, a shot on the toilet?! She’s far too pretty to be caught making that face!)

What a fun summer we’ve had! Adding Bell to the mix of our household has been such a treat. She’s a full fledged member of our family now instead of just a crying machine in cute clothes. Quinn has mastered the ability to calm her cries, and Cooper loves to smother her in kisses and tolerates her constant hair grabbing. She loves nothing more than to be with her big brothers – it’s truly amazing how she smiles immediately when they walk in the room.

Mom and I recently took a trip to Ohio. My mom’s uncle Dusty died unexpectedly at the age of 49, so even though it was a sad trip, we enjoyed the 1:1 time that we so rarely get. Mom was even looking forward to the flights because it meant we would be together – just she and I. We both missed my brothers (a lot!), and called them all the time, but they had a great time with daddy. It was also super fun to get to know some of my mom’s side of the family – especially my cousin Lyla! She’s 6 months older than me, so even my brothers haven’t met her yet. She’s so fun – and she’s got the best exersaucer in the world!

RIP (Great) Uncle Dusty.
Bellie

Friends, meet Estelle. She is Uncle Mitch and Aunt Erin’s new baby. She’s a month younger than me… and though I’ve got a month on her, she’s got some serious ROLLS on me! Though she won’t intimidate me – I went right after her!

Go on with your bad self, Estelle!

Oh, what fun I’m having. I’m still a blob that only knows how to move my arms and legs and laugh… but damn I’m cute! And I’m a big girl – Doctors say I’m 97% in length and 80% in weight.

I think I’ve started to irritate my brothers though. My crying makes Quinn, in particular, a little crazy. When I’m not crying, he’s pretty into me, but the second I start, he puts his hands over his ears. And Cooper still doesn’t really want to hold me. He’ll kiss me and be cute, but when asked if he wants to hold me, he almost runs out of the room. I think he’s scared of hurting me. We’re just going through a rough patch – I’m sure they’ll come around to me. Otherwise, we’re in some deep trouble.

Oh… what a life I lead. I hang out: eat, sleep, poop and be adored by my cool big brothers. I could get used to this. And I’ve really got the “I’m so cute” giggle down pat.

But, it’s not all great. There are times I FREAK out… which then makes my brothers freak out – especially when we are all in the car together. They don’t seem to like me crying in the car for some reason. And I refuse to be set down. I’m still sleeping in mom and dad’s room in a bassinet and I keep dad up most of the night because I will only sleep being held in movement. No, mom and dad can’t even lay down with me – i’m very particular. Dad’s got the hold down pat, but I let him know if he’s 1/4 of an inch off or something. They are PRAYING that this is just a needy phase. I hate to break it to them, but they should settle right in…