Let Me "Help" You Bubby!

The boys have started a new thing where they enjoy playing together in one of their cribs for a while after nap. Ummm...let me think extra minutes of confinement for my crazy toddlers.....Sounds Great to me! Here I believe Eli was schooling Alex on how to take off the teething bars. When we bought these Jared thought that they would take them right off but I assured them that they MUST have been toddler tested and couldn't come off too easily. Needless to say Daddy was right. Eli got his off the first night, I believe, and Alex didn't do it for the longest time until after this series of pictures thanks to his "helper" Eli.

Eli to Alex: See Alex, you just take it off and throw it to the floor like this".

"Great technique for a first timer, I think you've got it!"

"Yep, I think you are right this one is stuck".

"SEE aren't they fun you can use it as a phone or whatever you want". "My work here is done".

"Oh, I almost forgot and this is an important one, if Mommy looks annoyed just giver her one of your sweet faces."

"See works like a charm. Told ya!"

Fall is here!

Nothing says "fall" like a yummy apple. Here the boys decided they wanted their apples whole. I was actually quite surprised at how well they did with them. Eli could not have stuffed his little cheeks any fuller!

Where oh where...

can my little boys be oh where oh where can they be?

The boys are definitely at a stage where they like to explore and part of this involves "hiding" behind and under things, such as doors, chairs, tables. I find myself shouting to Jared "do you have a visual of Eli or Alex?" whomever the missing child may be. Well yesterday, while doing dishes, I could hear the boys playing in the living room but when I finished and went to go find them I didn't see them I just heard them. I followed their giggles only to find them both playing in our basket of throws. They had a blast until they realized that is was too close for comfort and then it was an all out war. Here are the "peaceful" pictures.

"Hewwoh"

This statement is heard all of the time in our house. The boys say this while holding anything and everything up to their ear. Usually it is our cell phones, ipod's, a shoe, a crayon, a diaper, you get the picture. Unfortunately in the backyard last week it was rabbit poo. Yes it was a proud moment as Eli lifted the said poo to his ear and announced "hewwoh". I looked at it thinking "why is their puppy food in our backyard?" at which point it hit me that we have a sweet little bunny that likes to hop around our backyard and it was not puppy food. Just thought I'd share the "fun".

17 months

I cannot believe that you guys are 17 months old. When did that happen? I continue to enjoy you so much! Here's a run down of what you are up to!

Alex

• You weigh in a 20lbs. 13 1/2 ounces.

• You said "down" today which you are pronouncing like "down" (pretty crazy, right?).


• You started saying "cock a doodle doo" which you are pronouncing "google google goo" (hmm, that is quite marketable nowadays actually) while you point to the roosters in your books.
  
• You're fiercely opinionated which is Mommy's nice way of saying that you want what you want, when you want it, how you want it, or else. We are working on this but it is quite a challenge.


• You are still doing the "frankenstein" walk while pushing your toys although you did stand up unassisted in your crib last week. (I, of course missed it but Daddy and Nana saw it).


• You also enjoy shutting your brother in the front door. Revenge is sweet as they say.


• On the brother front, you have begun to take on the big brother role which I find interesting as you only beat him by a minute but I guess it is instinctive. You were both crying the other night after being frightened by the gate falling (the dreaded gate) and Daddy and I each picked up one of you while you proceeded to pat Eli on the back. It was really sweet and I hope that the two of you will always have each other's backs, so to speak.


• You love doing the motions to "The Muffin Man" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and are so proud of yourself while you do them. Last weekend Daddy picked up muffins and coffee and we soon realized that every time I said muffin you were doing the motions. We tried to explain that you were actually eating a muffin but you aren't quite "there".

Eli

• You weigh in at 24lbs 13 1/2 ounces.
  
• You have begun to sing your alphabet and we cannot believe it. Daddy and I both look at each other in awe pretty much every time that you interject a letter in the correct place. You started with "e,f,g" and now love "y" along with several other letters.


• Your doing daily breathing treatments and are taking them like a champ (as long as "Sesame Street" is on). You definitely need to school your brother in this area because he had a cold that requires the same treatments and he is not fond of them.


• You love going outside and every time you hear the baby gate that leads to the back door (and to the basement, unfortunately) you get upset if we don't take you outside immediately and if for some reason I pick you up near the door and don't exit swiftly it is "on" as some might say. We are "working" on" this too. (Are you seeing a pattern in the life of a toddler? We are "working on" an insane amount of things. I'm pretty sure God's getting a chuckle over that last statement I made. He is definitely "there" with me all the time :) )


• You still cry a bit when each bottle ends and if I stop feeding you applesauce or yogurt. You love food.


• Daddy and I have been calling you "bam, bam" (which Aunt Kim came up with) because you are a bit rough and struggle to understand the word gentle.


• I'm pretty sure you have a crush on Alli. We will have to explain that whole cousin thing to you soon :) You are thrilled to see her in the morning when I watch her.


• You've begun to give kisses. This is both thrilling and frightening because they are very scary Hannibal Lecter type kisses (wide open mouth, coming at you with great force) but we love them. You also give them to your babies in your books. You try to give them to Alex but I'm pretty sure the attempts give him nightmares.

The two of you

• were fighting over my phone last week only to pull it into two separate pieces. Mommy has since learned to always save your contacts to your sim card and never let your sweet boys play with your cell phone as they may disagree with who deserves ownership from one moment to the next.
  
• are beginning to give each other hugs and while shopping, this past weekend, we had you both in the same cart (How much do I love discount clubs that have 2 seats in each cart? Genius, I tell you genius!) and you just sat there with your faces on one another in a snuggle. It was priceless.


• will eat anything. Daddy and I cannot snack on anything without the "scavengers" attacking. Outsiders must think we don't feed you.


• are the loves of our lives.

Love you, my little 17 months olds!

Back from Blog Vacation.

Wow I new I was guilty of blog neglect but I didn't realize that it had been that long :) Yikes! The boys are doing a ridiculous amount of new things. I think that they are trying to completely freak me out and turn into......little boys. Ugh, I cannot stand it. I keep telling Jared that I don't want a new baby I just want to rewind their little lives and enjoy it all over again. I know this is impossible and a little bit of a weird desire but I've come to terms with it and it just helps me appreciate each little moment.

We had a great time with the boys last night. We went to Mother Goose Storytime at the Library. It is for 6-24 month olds. I was going to try to go to this during the day alone with the boys but thought I should try it out with Jared first. Thank God I did. Eli was not about to sit still and did the "flipper" (you know the straight back bowed body thing that makes you powerless in their little hands) when I tried to hold him in my lap. Oddly enough Jared picked Eli as "his" for this activity because he would be easier and sit still. Needless to say, he became "mine" pretty quickly. He did love the songs though and the play time at the end. Alex sat still and was enthralled by ever second of it. He also plopped himself in the middle of other kids and their parents during play time. This is our normally reserved, sit back and watch until he's comfortable, child but he surprised us and it was great to see him dive right in. The boys refuse to be pigeon holed as you can tell. It is impossible to label them and I am actually glad they are constantly changing. With twins it's easy to try and label them as the "this" one or "that" one but they are onto us and aren't going to let it happen I guess. Good for them :)

Our Snugglers

The boys have always been snuggly. I don't think they had a chance with Jared and I as parents it is in their blood. We practically forced it upon them :) They now, however, have begun to snuggle their stuffed animals and we are loving it. Eli loves to snuggle/strangle the bunny as seen in the above pic that Aunt Linda got him at Easter. Alex's new favorite is a pink pig puppet (pics of puppets to come) that I picked up in the dollar section at Target thinking we could do some puppet shows but instead he loves to snuggle these things. Daddy went this weekend to pick up some more puppets with the boys and is trying to convert Alex to the puppy dog. We will see how that goes ;)

May I Please Have More Fishies?

Rather than bother Mommy Alex decided to help himself to the fishy crackers.
How sweet of him :) I also must add that I just put the boys down for their nap and said "I love you" only to hear Eli echo back "wuh woo". I guess that makes the smushed into the carpet fishy crackers that I have to go clean up seem like no big deal. Motherhood is truly different from one instant to the next :)

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day 2007 and this year (Eli truly did enjoy the sprinkler despite this picture)

We had a mellow weekend which I hear myself saying a lot but in reality what is mellow about twin toddlers??? Not a whole lot. They have started having knock-down-drag-out's over toys which is delightful and not so "mellow". Anyways, we were "stuck" home a bit more than usual because we weren't sure whether or not the boys were still contagious and in an effort not to infect others we grounded ourselves. I use the term stuck very loosely because I seriously had the best weekend with my husband and children. It was refreshing. I often as a new mom think of "refreshing" as a spa weekend or a beach with Jared or sleeping in or reading a novel but in this season of my life "refreshing" doesn't look like that and I am NOT complaining (well, not today) and, truth be told, we do get to do quite a bit of reading and relaxing after bed time which is still 7 o'clock (glorious, glorious 7 o'clock). Seriously though I was able to spend Monday in the backyard with two sweet baby boys climbing into my lap slurping up watermelon at a frightening pace while Daddy was nearby grilling and later I got to watch them enjoy their first rice crispy treats. This is a rite of passage for sure :) I listened as Jared chased them down the hallway saying "I'm gonna get you" and heard Eli mimicking "I get you". We also took them for a walk around the block and they had a blast playing in the sprinkler when we got home. It was fun to watch them pull their shoulders up to their ears and scrunch their faces up as the cold water hit their faces and backs. I wouldn't trade this season for the world. I actually wish it would slow down a bit so that I can take it all in. Jared and I also seemed to have a lot more time this weekend to just talk to each other (in full sentences and everything) and read or play cards. It is possible that we found this extra time due to the fact that while putting in an Elmo video for the boys recently I somehow broke our TV in the bedroom but lets just assume that wasn't it :) OOPS!