19 month stats

Jakob

Weight: 23 lbs 8 oz (14th percentile)

Alex

Weight: 21 lbs 8 oz (less than 3rd percentile)

Mary

christmas

We had a very nice Christmas!

The boys made cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.  I think this was a highlight.  Kara made the sugar cookie dough the day before and so when Kara got home from work on Christmas Eve we quickly assembled the troops to get the cookies all cut out and decorated before bedtime.

Here are the boys paying close attention to the instructions.  Actually I think both boys are just trying to figure out when they get to eat the dough.

And watching them decorate the cookies was the best part.  I think Jakob managed to get 10 sprinkles on the cookie and 500 sprinkles on the floor and table.

Alex only fared a bit better because his sprinkles were smaller!

The finished product.  The boys each got to decorate a big gingerbread cookie for Santa.  Here they are leaving cookies for Santa trying to eat Santa's cookies.

I wrapped the gifts after the boys went to bed on Christmas Eve while I indulged in a bit of Home Alone.  It was perfect!  And Kara worked hard in the kitchen getting food ready for our Christmas dinner the next day.  Here is a picture of the tree once all the gifts were wrapped for the boys.

 
The boys woke-up in the morning completely oblivious to the gifts under the Christmas tree.  Here are the boys ignoring the gifts.

But then suddenly ... GIFTS!!!!

And Jakob wasted no time tearing into each of the presents.  We had to do some wrangling to make sure the boys were open the right presents.

It took Alex a bit longer to get the hang of opening presents.  I love this picture.  Alex was just watching Jakob to see what the deal was with the presents.

"I'm not so sure about this."

"Now I got it! This is fun Mommy!"

Our problem was the toddler attention span.  Of course we had to play with each gift right after we opened it.  I think this is why it took us until afternoon to open all the presents.

And sometimes it took a tag team effort to get the job done.

And at the end of the day the only toy I really needed to get Jakob was the Yo Gabba Gabba figurines.  He is a bit obsessed.  You can even see them sitting on the gift in the previous picture.

The boys took a nap after all the gift unwrapping excitement.  We then had some family over for Christmas dinner.

This is a wonderful picture of the boys with Grandma and Grandpa.  There are no words that can adequately describe how blessed I feel to have my parent's so involved with the boys.  A story - We had to wake Jakob up from his nap on Christmas day because our family was due to arrive in only a few minutes.  Jakob went into full on meltdown mode and there was not a single thing Kara or I could do to calm him down.  I just kept thinking to myself, "Grandma is coming over.  Grandma is coming over." because I knew the moment that my mother walked into the room Jakob would calm down.  And it worked.  Jakob immediately reached for Grandma when she walked into the door and he was quiet and smiling in only a few seconds.  The boys adore them to pieces.  And so do we.  We are blessed.

This is also another fabulous picture of Great Aunt Judy with Jakob.  Again.  We are so blessed.

And of course the boys were spoiled with even more gifts.  And this time Alex did not hesitate in tearing open the paper.

It was a wonderful day.

Merry Christmas.

Mary

19 months

This month brought the introduction of some new temper tantrums for Mr. Jakob.  Jakob wears his heart on his sleeve.  And it's a really big heart!  I am continuously amazed at how generous Jakob is towards others.  This is especially true with his brother.  All we have to do is ask Jakob to share a toy with his brother and 9 times out of 10 Jakob will oblige without a second thought.  Jakob will also put up with Mr. Bully Alex on most occasions.  But because Jakob feels his emotions so strongly it makes for an occasional temper tantrum.  And I think because Jakob is such an emotional little guy these temper tantrums can become extreme.  They can be set off for any reason.  But the good news is they usually pass quickly.  I think more and more Jakob wants to be able to communicate his feelings with us and this is the only way he knows how to do so.  And the tears!  That boy can turn on the waterworks in an instant.

We moved the boys from highchairs to booster seats right around Thanksgiving.  And Jakob can often sit at the table for a long time just eating away.  That boy does not miss a meal.  We now have to be really careful with the dogs too because if food isn't being tossed to them then a boy is handing food to them.  Alex is hit or miss with the booster seat but typically does just fine when I'm not around.  We are still trying to figure out this obsession that Alex has with being held by me ALL THE TIME!!  So there are times on the weekend that Alex will end up sitting on the bench next to me during dinnertime.  And of course eating is still hit or miss for our little string bean.  We have been giving the boys those pouches more and more just to be certain that Alex is getting some sort of nutritional value during the day.  We have also learned that Alex is just a really slow eater.  So as long as Alex is not fussy we just let him sit at the table a lot longer to finish his food.  We will also sometimes put the dogs out of the room and just let Alex roam around the house and finish dinner.  We really do whatever we need to to get food into his belly.

Jakob is babbling up a storm.  It's amazing to watch him have conversations with himself, with us, and with his toys.  I love when Jakob will come up to us and babble a complete sentence and then look at us waiting for a response.  He is like, "What?  What part of that did you not understand?"  I think there might be random real words in some of the babbling but it is often hard to tell.  And of course we continue to work with Alex on talking too.  We have gone to our first speech therapy appointment and I think it will be beneficial.  Alex did not have any new words this month but there have been moments where the babbling has increased a bit.  This typically happens when Alex gets excited about something or if Alex is playing alone and doesn't really think we are paying attention.

Jakob

Words: "Mom", "Hi", "Bye", "What's That?", "Woof", "Bottle", "Dog", "Vroom"

Alex

Words: "Mom", "Bye", "Woof", "Vroom"

But can we talk about receptive language.  It amazes me everyday with how much the boys understand.  It actually shocks me quite often when I will tell the boys to do something and they immediately go do it.  I often will speak out loud and ask them to do something not thinking they know how to do it.  It's also neat to watch them have certain jobs each day.  For example, Alex will turn off the upstairs light every morning and Jakob will turn off the Christmas Tree lights every night.  And they know to put their sippy cups on the kitchen counter after they have finished drinking them.  But then there is the stuff they know how to do that drives me crazy.

They can turn on the dishwasher.
They can unplug the television (no way to baby proof that one because of big plugs).
They can flush the toilet.
They can climb on top of the kitchen table.
They can throw items down the laundry shoot.
They can pull out drawers and stand in them.
They can climb anything and everything!

Alex is also learning from our dogs.  They are such great role models! (insert eye roll)  It is hilarious to watch Alex run around with a stuffed toy in his mouth.  He is also obsessed with wanting to drink water out of a bowl just like the dogs.  Please tell me that Alex will realize one day that he is not a dog and also please reassure me that Alex will not start to eat his poop!

The boys still sleep from 7:15pm - 7:00am.  We had some rough sleep nights the past month but I think a lot of that can be attributed to teeth.  Alex has a mouthful of teeth and I think Jakob is destined to have 2 bottom teeth for his entire life.  Though we finally see another tooth coming in on the bottom.  The boys take one nap during the day at 12:15pm.  They will sleep anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours.  We never let them sleep longer than 3 hours.

So what do I want to remember about month 19?

Alex
* He loves to play "hide-n-go-seek" in the house.  The more you can scare Alex the better the game.
* He is obsessed with reading books.  Alex will sit with you for hours and point out pictures in books.
* We now scream our head off during bath time.
* Alex is really starting to like stuffed animals.  He will often carry one around the house.
* Alex loves cars.
* We have a new play fort in the playroom that has a slide.  Alex loves to go down head first!
* Alex has no fear (with the exception of strangers).

Jakob
* Jakob is still obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba.
* He gives Gretel a kiss and hug every morning when we come downstairs.
* Jakob loves to dance.  This includes twirling around in circles until he gets dizzy!
* Jakob is a big flirt!  And I'm afraid he will end up with a ton of girlfriends.  All a woman needs to do is smile at Jakob and he will melt into a puddle of nothing.  I'm serious.
* Jakob loves puzzles and legos.
* Jakob is obessed with milk and his sippy cup.  And he knows we keep the milk in the fridge!
* Jakob still gives open mouth kisses.

Mary

one i want to remember

Mary

speech evaluation

I took Alex for a speech evaluation.  We knew after the 15 month well visit that the pediatrician was concerned about a possible delay in speech development in both Jakob and Alex.  But the greatest concern was with Alex.  And the pediatrician did not change his tune when we took the boys for their 18 month well visit.  And so I agreed to get a speech evaluation done.  I was still not overly concerned about a speech delay in Alex at this most recent well visit appointment.  But I knew my only regret could ever possibly be not taking advantage of the resources available to us should we learn down the road that there was an issue and Alex would have benefited from the early intervention.  The speech-language pathologist that we met with did a really good job with Alex.  The evaluation basically consisted of Alex playing with different toys and interacting with the speech pathologist.  So of course he had a blast.  The speech pathologist also asked me a lot of different questions.  And in the end I was not surprised by the results.  Alex is moderately delayed in expressive language or "talking".  The speech pathologist was actually really impressed with how well Alex could communicate despite his lack of babbling and words.  My boy can grunt with the best of them!  The speech pathologist gave us a bunch of different options.  We have decided to start Alex in a weekly 30 minute 1:1 speech therapy session.  The speech pathologist is not overly concerned with the exception of the lack of babbling from Alex.  So we want to work on developing some of his mouth muscles and hopefully get him babbling a bit more.  They aren't even really concerned with actual words at this point.  Because these therapy sessions are not covered by health insurance they are going to run us $71 a week.  Joy!  But Kara and I have talked at length and we actually think this is really important for Alex at the moment.  But you better believe we will be watching with a keen eye as this is not a cheap route.  We have also been referred to our local early intervention program.  We are hoping we can supplement some of the "paid" speech therapy sessions with visits from the early intervention program.  We shall see.  We are not even certain Alex would qualify for the services.  The speech therapy is as much for Kara and myself as it is for Alex.  We already walked away with good pointers after the speech evaluation.  The speech therapist though that signing would be really beneficial to Alex.  And because of his great receptive language skills the speech therapist thought Alex would pick up signs really fast.  And by golly did I shed a tear tonight when Alex learned to sign "more" in just a few minutes!  We were eating chips and guacamole and we started to show the boys "more" in order to get a chip.  And it caught on like wildfire.  And I almost hit the ground when Alex came up 30 minutes later and made the "more" sign because he was hungry.  I felt like he was talking to me for the very first time.  So Kara and I are really hoping to add some more signs over the next couple of weeks.  It might help.  We have our first speech therapy appointment next week.

And not to be outdone ... Mr. Jakob is now saying, "What's that?"  and it is the cutest thing in the entire world.

Mary

18 month stats

Jakob

Weight: 22 lbs 15 oz (12th percentile)
Length: 32 inches (36th percentile)

Alex

Weight: 21 lbs 4 oz (3rd percentile)
Length: 31 inches (12th percentile)

Note: The boys got weighed with all their clothes on today.

Mary

through the eyes of a child

I forgot to share this picture.

We got our first snowfall of the season this week.  And while we got snow last year the boys were too young to really understand it.  But this year as soon as they woke-up and saw the snow outside they were amazed.  I couldn't even get them away from the window to change diapers.  The laughter that was spilling from them was contagious.  And at one point Jakob even licked the door.  I think he was trying to lick the snow.  Unfortunately the snow melted really fast so we will have to save the "playing in the snow" experience for a later date.  

This was the best moment of my week.

Mary

18 months

I know these monthly updates are soon going to turn into semi-annual updates or even yearly updates.  And that makes me sad.  But I don't imagine I have any readers who would be interested in reading a blog post titled "126 months".

We have 18 month old little boys who have made it their daily mission to destroy our house.  I am blessed that Grandpa Heitzman tackles my "items to be fixed" list and/or "items to childproof" list on a weekly basis.  Actually Grandpa Heitzman never shows up at our house without his toolbox.  It is great to watch the grandparents unload from the car at each visit.  It is almost a guarantee that Grandma Heitzman will get out of the car with an armful of food for us and/or a new toy for the boys and Grandpa Heitzman will get out of the car with his toolbox and probably a roll of duct tape!  You throw dogs into the mix who also like to destroy objects and you know to never expect a dull moment in our house.

 We have had over a week of sickness at our house.  It's only November and I am tired of runny noses and little coughs.  Our boys can get really fussy when the noses start a running!  And this is especially true for Mr. Alex who as an already "clingy" toddler requires a lot of special attention when a cold runs through our house.  We actually let Alex sleep with us the other night because he just felt really cruddy.  This is a rarity in our house.  We might have little boys who fall into the "picky" eaters category but we also have little boys who fall into the "exceptional" sleepers category.  And for that we feel extremely LUCKY!  But I would be fibbing if I told you that I didn't enjoy every second of having my little boy snuggle with me in bed.  But my stiff neck and headache the next morning quickly brought me back to reality that co-sleeping would never be the ideal sleep arrangement for our family.

The boys are participating in a research study at our local Children's Hospital.  The research project, without giving out details, is basically studying the impact a specific nutritional supplement has on development in toddlers born at at gestational age of less than 35 weeks.  It is a double blind study so we mix 2 packets of either the supplement or a placebo into the boys milk each day.  We do this for a six month period.  And during that period the boys make a few visits to the hospital for a developmental evaluation, a blood draw, and some body measurements.  We are so glad that the boys are able to hopefully do something now to help other premature babies born in the years to come.  I am giving you this background information because we had quite the adventure last week when we took the boys to the hospital for the initial study visit.  I think it was 35 degrees outside and let's just say that when we finally left for the day I pushed Alex out the front doors in no more than socks, a t-shirt, and a diaper.  And I could have cared less!  The visit took over 4 hours and spilled over into nap time and lunch time.  And for our very scheduled sleepers, who were also battling colds, a limit was reached about 2.5 hours into the visit.  I was, at one point, carrying a sobbing Alex through the cubicles of this research office.  I was like, "Please don't mind the sobbing toddler.  This mess of a toddler is here to help you make an advancement in modern medicine.  No worries.  You can thank us later."  I joke but the boys did great overall.  I spent the entire time filling out paperwork.  Let that sink in for a bit.  Yes.  There was really about 3 hours of paperwork for me to complete.  But Kara was able to watch the boys go through the different developmental tasks.  We definitely have little boys who are advanced in the physical department.  But as a parent who constantly worries about the boys cognitive development I was pleasantly surprised to get feedback from Kara that the boys did a good job.  They had to do a bunch of miscellaneous tasks.  They did great with following directions.  If the research assistant would show the boys how to do something the boys could usually demonstrate it back.  The exception would be towards the end when Alex was in full on meltdown mode.  I don't think throwing the toys at the research assistant earned us any brownie points for the day.  Our struggle is with they boys identifying objects at this point.  They have made improvements in the "body parts" area but still won't point out most objects in a book.  But overall I was super proud of my little men.  I also mention this research study because while the boys spent some time in the NICU after birth we have been more than blessed to have healthy children since coming home from the hospital.  And for that I am grateful.  I tip my hats to the parents of sick children.  It was inspirational to watch from the distance the dedication I saw in so many parents that day tending to their children in different situations.  I cannot imagine, as a parent, facing a health crisis with my child day after day after day.  It breaks my heart.  I hope in some small way we are giving back to the hospital that took such wonderful care of our boys.    

I think we have made some improvements in the word department.  I will be interested to see what comes from the boys next pediatrician appointment.

Jakob (six words) - hi, bye, mom, bottle, woof-woof (sound), vroom (sound)
Alex (three words) - bye, mom, vroom (sound)

We still have some very picky eaters.  Though I guess some days they shock us with the amount of food they can put away.  We have become very dependent on the food pouches for vegetable and fruit consumption.  The boys do great with "finger" carbohydrates but will more often than not throw any vegetable or fruit on the ground.  The exception to this rule is bananas!   Some favorite foods at the moment include sausage, french toast, hot dogs, grilled cheese, quesadilla, dry cereal, marshmallows, fruit crisp bars, animal crackers, lil crunchies, fruit snacks, graham crackers, oyster crackers, and crackers.  See why we depend on the pouches??  I would be lost without those.  We can almost always get the boys to eat a pouch if we just hand it to them while they are wandering around the house.   

My Favorite Things - Alex - 18 months
* If Alex gets really mad he will run through the house screaming with his hands raised over his head.
* His strong dislike for order.
* His ability to climb on anything.  There is a wall ladder at gymnastics and he climbed to the top (with my assistance) and rang the bell last week!
* His obsession with the trash can.  I often find myself digging socks and sippy cups out of the trash.
* His obsession with his lantern.  This lantern goes to bed with Alex EVERY night (along with Mr. Monkey and Mr. Horse) and the lantern must be on before I leave the room.
* His love for being held.
* He lets me brush his teeth.  This is big people!

My Favorite Things - Jakob - 18 months
* His obsession with Yo Gabba Gabba.  I think obsession is an understatement.  And Amazon On Demand only has season 1 to view for free.  I think we have watched every episode a gazillion times.
* His strong dislike for Mark's Magic Pictures on Yo Gabba Gabba.  I'm not sure the reason but Jakob always runs away from the television crying when this man appears on the screen.
* His love for cars.
* His love for reading.
* His love for Gretel and Leo.  There is not a day that goes by that Jakob does not immediately go over and give Gretel a hug headbutt in the morning.
* His big heart.  This boy can share toys better than any kid I have ever met.
* His hair.  It is out of control these days.

Mary

halloween

Let's just get it out in the open ... I think Halloween is my least favorite holiday of the entire year.  I think I would even rank Sweetest Day above Halloween on the "excitement" scale (gasp!).   But we all know that there is the official parenting handbook that was once published by some big-wig, with no kids, a bazillion years ago that states word for word that...

"All children, without exception, must participate in annual Halloween festivities.  All parents must spend 100 hours hand stitching an original costume.  And on Halloween night all parents and children must simultaneously trick-or-treat at the neighborhood houses while also passing out full size candy bars (none of this tootsie roll stuff) at their own house.  A true parent is able to multitask and should not be confused by any of these simple requirements."

Did I mention that I loathe this parenting handbook?  And while we are on this topic I actually have yet to receive my copy of this book that so many other parents seem to follow on a daily basis without any problems.  If it really is the Bible of the parenting world then shouldn't there be a copy in the nightstand of every hotel room?

Anyhow ...  I would like to introduce you to my little construction worker.

Okay.  So at this point you are thinking to yourself ... "WTH?  All you did was slap a tool belt around his waist.  You can yourself a parent?"

YES!  And because of my stellar parenting skills I am actually going to submit my application for the "Parent of the Year" competition that gives the winner a day long nap.  And I'm going to do that as soon as I can figure out where I am supposed to mail my application.  The contest officials left the address off of the application for some strange reason.

We let the boys be construction workers this year because I wanted a costume that could be used as a "toy" in the years to come.  Let's face it that as a Mommy and Momma to twin boys we didn't have a lot of extra cash around the house to waste on a costume that neither of the boys were going to want to wear come Halloween night.  And let me just also admit to you all that I couldn't even sew a button on my pants should the need arise.  And because you really can buy just about anything on Amazon I was able to put together a costume for the boys in less than 10 minutes!  Now that is what I call a tool from the parent toolbox.

My parents came over on trick-or-treat night to help with the grand adventures.  We started the evening with a super cranky Alex who was not feeling well and who was getting tired as trick-or-treat time is near bedtime for the average toddler.  Jakob on the other hand was happy as a clam and super excited to put on his construction worker costume.  We even managed, after about 30 minutes, to wrestle Alex into his tool belt.  And then we tried to put on the super adorable construction hats that came with the tool belts ... Yep.  That was not going to happen in a million years.  We tried every trick in the book and it was just not going to happen.  So we slapped winter hats on their heads instead and called them "North Pole Construction Workers" who were busy preparing Santa's sleigh for the busy holiday season.

Cute?

 
Right?

So once we got dressed we headed off to get some loot.   Okay.  It's time to be honest again.  We actually decided we needed to go trick-or-treating ASAP to replace the candy that was quickly being depleted by the kids coming to trick-or-treat at my house.  I had no idea we would get so many kids at our house.  We are new to the neighborhood.  I was actually throwing fruit snacks at Grandpa Heitzman as we left the house with the instructions, "Once you run out of fruit snacks just turn off the porch light and shut the front door and hide under the couch in the living room.  They might just believe we aren't home."  So off we went ...

House #1 - Alex lost his pants.

Yes.  I did just type that.  What can I say?  Alex is skinny.  He was wearing a heavy tool belt and I had, in all the chaos that is associated with getting 17 month old twins dressed-up for Halloween, put the wrong pants on Alex.  I also really just wanted to add to my "Parent of the Year" application in the section listed "Anything else you would like the committee to know?".  There is nothing like impressing your new neighbors by letting them see your son naked on their front porch.  Maybe house # 2 would be better ....

House #2 - There was a scary monster.  And strangers.  So Jakob burst into tears.  But no worries because we are now up to 4 pieces of candy.  We should be able to replenish our candy stock in no time.  Off to house #3.

House #3 - Wait?  Where is Alex?

Do you want to know why Alex was so cranky come trick-or-treat time?  He had to poop!  And Alex thought that now would be a good time to give it a whirl.  But the problem is Alex can't poop like the normal toddler.  Nope.  If Alex decides it is time to poop he has to assume the stance which looks very much like "down dog" yoga position (see below).

So there we are on the sidewalk hoovered around Alex as he gives pooping the good old college try.  We just smiled and nodded as the other ghosts and goblins (in their homemade costumes) ran by us.  I have no idea why we were getting the side eye from the other parents.  I wanted to be like, "Haven't you ever seen a kid poop?!?"  We even offered various words of encouragement to our little construction worker.  But no such luck.  It's hard to poop in public.  

House #4 - There was a leaf of the ground.  I'm not sure why this leaf was different from the 100,000 other leaves that were scattered on the ground.  I even picked it up to see if maybe it was made of money.  So anyhow why would you go get candy from a stranger when you can play with an amazing, not made of money, leaf?

House #5 - Our house.

What?  We hit our quota.  So in the end it took us approximately 63 minutes to get ready to trick-or-treat for 15 minutes and to get approximately 8 pieces of candy.

But I will let you in on a secret ... I loved every stinking second of it!

Happy Halloween!

Mary

classic

Just take a moment each day to enjoy the sun!

Mary

take your child to work day

Today was "Take Your Child to Work" day for my company.  Our "Take Your Child to Work" day doesn't actually coincide with the official day because my company always aligns the day with our annual "Community Days" volunteer event that my company organizes each year.  This was the first time that I had children to bring to this event. Our 2012 event, which I was actually in charge of coordinating, took place early in 2012 right after I was put on early maternity leave.  But today I got to walk into my office with my little boys.  A day that I have been looking forward to for several years!

The boys did great!

We spent most of the day just following the boys around the office and watching them interact with my coworkers.  And of course I spent a lot of that time just making sure the boys didn't break something that I couldn't afford to replace (like a computer or copy machine).  Our office is sort of an oddity in that while we only have about 40 employees at our location we had three sets of twins (15 months, 17 months, and 24 months) in attendance today!  The sets of twins accounted for 6 of the 11 kids in the office today.  Crazy!  We tried our best to get a picture but you can imagine how well that went over with the kids.  Our office spent the day making care packages for newly diagnosed cancer patients.  And the kits included assembling fleece blankets.  So we had the boys help us with the blankets.  And by "help" I mean that some adorable little boy is going to be given our care package on his first day of chemotherapy treatment and the little boy is going to be forced to ask his mother, "Why does my blanket smell like apple juice?  And who ate cookies without me?"  The boys were great helpers!!  The boys were up past nap time but only really started to meltdown after lunch.  And can I mention again how much Jakob can eat on any given day?  He went through 3 large cups of fruit in just over two hours.  And that was after a large breakfast of french toast and potatoes.  My son can eat!  I was also told that they were asleep in the car before Kara even got out of the parking lot.

My coworker took this picture.  

  
"What do you mean we ran out of coffee in the breakroom?  How am I ever going to get through this day?"

Mary

almost 17 months

The boys will be 17 months old this weekend!

Our days are full of chaos and full of love.  I think my favorite part of each day is when Kara gets home from work each night and we lay in bed and swap stories about the boys!  It's great.

So what's new?

We love to take the boys to the park.  They have absolutely zero fear.  Most of the parks have a jungle gym that is small enough for the boys to climb up on without any assistance.  We will make sure they don't leap to their death.  But otherwise they can spend an hour just climbing the stairs and going down the slide.  There is a very small playground by our house that has a huge slide.  Kara and I will carry the boys to the top of the slide and then slide down with the boys in our laps.  They will laugh the entire time. I don't have any good pictures of our playground adventures because it is tough enough to keep an eye on two toddlers.  We actually took the boys the other day and Jakob managed to get whacked in the face with a wayward swing.  These older boys were swinging on the swing and proceeded to jump off.  This enticed Jakob to run over to the empty swing and just as the older boy turned around to say, "You are too little for those," Jakob got hit in the head with the swing.  It was cute (after I made sure he didn't have a concussion of course).

The boys babble a lot these days but we still don't have a lot of words.  Both boys only say "Mom and Momma" and "Bye" with any sort of regularity.  But at the same time I think their comprehension is growing by leaps and bounds.  They are obsessed with reading books.  The boys will carry books around the house and just plop down and start thumbing through them with an intensity this is typically reserved only for the professional card counter at a Las Vegas Casino.  And thanks to Grandma Heitzman the boys are currently obsessed with Little Blue Truck and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  To be honest the boys love all books.  The books with missing pages and teeth marks and dried up graham crackers get just as much attention as a shiny new book from a big box store.  I have been told that it can help a toddlers speech development if instead of reading a book cover to cover you just turn the page and point out objects with a single word.  I have been trying to do that more and more.  And I think they are getting better at pointing objects out in books.  You know like ... Where is the dog?  Where is the spoon?  Where is the baby?  I still know that cognitively they are a bit behind others of a same age but I don't think there is any reason to be super concerned yet.  Perhaps I am still naive.

There is a bit of a food obsession in our house.  And an obsession with utensils.  The boys are hit and miss on any given day with food consumption.  There are some days that Jakob consumes the same amount of calories as our local high school heavyweight wrestler!  And other days where he is appearantly preparing for swimsuit season.  The only guarantee is that there will be a complete and total meltdown if you stick food on a plate without giving the boys a spoon and fork.  Only babies eat with their fingers.  The boys do love meat and potatoes.  Such cavemen we have on our hands.  And breakfast seems to be a favorite meal.  The boys have been known to consume 6 - 8 sausage links between the both of them at a single meal.  And pancakes and french toast often don't stand a chance.  And today we took the boys to Bob Evans for lunch and Jakob managed to eat a fruit pouch, a Mum-Mum, and entire bowl of fruit, french fries and half a grilled cheese sandwich.  And even as we went to put Jakob in his car seat he shoved a wayward french fry in his mouth.  We can no longer go out and just let the boys nibble from our plates.  Kara and I would leave a restaurant starving if we did that.  Alex is more hit or miss on the food front.  And that can explain why there is a noticeable size difference between the boys.  We still have 6 - 12 month pants that fall off Alex at the waist and that is even after we had a friend add elastic bands to the pants!  But Alex does love to snack and will eagerly consume any snack that you put into a cup.  And Alex's favorite food is any type of potato.  And Kara makes these home-made oyster crackers with all sorts of seasoning on them.  And Alex treats them like they are a delicacy.  The boys still get a sippy cup with milk 3x per day for a total of 12 oz - 14 oz of milk and we offer a juice / water combination all through the day.

I still take Alex to gymnastics class.  He loves it!  I know I have mentioned my concerns in the area of cognitive development but let's just say the opposite is true in the area of physical development.  There is absolutely nothing these boys won't try at least one time.  And the same applies to gymnastics.  Alex is getting better and better at walking across the different size balance beams.  And he loves to hang from the bars and kick his feet up.  We have even done somersaults and he climbs up on mats that are 4x his size.  He will let me through him into the foam pit at gymnastics too.  The gymnastics class just gives him an opportunity to run around like a crazy man and I can pretend that I am training him for a future Olympics.  I mean ever future Olympian started off by chewing on the high bars to soothe their aching gums and jumping with their stuffed animal on the trampoline all while making sure their diaper stays on.  Right?

There is always so much to write about and then I sit down to write and I forget so much!  But I guess even remembering a few things is good.

My favorite things about Jakob at the moment are ...

* His crazy blond hair.
* His passion for books.
* His ability to play by himself for long periods of time.
* His love for blocks and legos.
* His sensitive side and his ability to share with his brother.
* His laugh.
* His endless pit of a stomach.

My favority things about Alex at the moment are ...

* His lack of fear.
* His newest obsession with his stuffed monkey.
* His walk.
* His laugh.
* His love for airplanes.
* His passion for animals.
* The way he still opens and closes his fists when he gets excited about something.

Mary

      

wonder where we've been?

Have you wondered where we have been over the last several weeks?

Here are some pictures to help explain the chaos that we face each day.

"Why do I have to clean up this mess?  It's not like I made the mess.  My clothes?  I'm not sure where I put my clothes?"

"Fine!  I don't care if you took away my sippy cup.  I'm just going to go get it!"

"No worries.  This is totally normal Mom.  I am one with the dog toys. Woof! Woof!"

"I hear that yogurt is great for the skin."

"I'm hot!  Just don't tell the ladies about my purple toothbrush."

"Please don't send me back."

The boys are keeping us on our toes.  I will be back with a real update soon.

Mary

16 months

The boys are 16 months old today!

And most days I feel like we have our hands plenty full.  There are many nights that I walk out of the nursery and I am just grateful that no one ended up in the emergency room that day!  I think the boys have a mission in life to injure themselves at least once each day.

We have given the boys a bit more freedom in the house as the only baby gates that are still up are blocking the stairway.  The boys love this new freedom but it has come with some parental challenges as there are now many more ways for the boys to get hurt.  The couch has become a trampoline.  The fireplace mantel has become a springboard.  The kitchen chairs have become go karts.  The kitchen utensils have become swords.  The dogs have become tag team wrestling partners.  The iPads have become skateboards.  The electrical outlet safety caps have become teething toys.  And all electrical cords have become lassos.  The boys love to explore their new world each day while Kara and I run around like crazy people!

The boys have mastered climbing up the stairs and they absolutely love to race each other up them each night before bath time.  It is amazing how competitive they have become at such a young age.

I think our biggest struggle at the moment is in the area of communication.  The pediatrician expressed a lot of concern at the 15 month appointment.  And to be honest it really surprised me.  The majority of the concern is with Alex.  Both boys have very few words. And there have not been any new words this month.  Alex can still say Mama.  And Jakob still can say Mama, Thank You, and Bye-Bye.  We were told that a 15 month old should have between 3 - 10 words.  I never knew that.  I was under the impression that you didn't get concerned with talking until a toddler hit the age of 2.  I think the pediatrician is worried about Alex because of his head circumference.  My boy has a big head.  But I have a big head too.  So that has never concerned me.  But it still concerns the pediatrician.  I just think it is genetics.  And when I look at the growth chart I can understand that concern.  Alex is off the charts for head circumference and between his 12 month appointment and his 15 month appointment his head circumference growth did not follow the growth chart in any similar manner.  The growth should have followed a pattern like a hill and my boys head grew like a mountain.  The pediatrician was pushing for a speech evaluation at the 15 month appointment but I asked to wait until the 18 month appointment to reevaluate things.  The thing is their comprehension seems to be growing in leaps and bounds.  This is great!  I truly feel like they understand a lot of what I am saying to them.  But the problem comes with them being able to communicate with us.  We have noticed this to be a problem specifically with Alex.  Alex has zero patience.  He is babbling a ton but he gets immediately frustrated because we don't understand the words.  This has led to a lot of temper tantrums.  Jakob is a bit more relaxed but he will have his moments of frustration too.  They just don't come as often.  I know the boys will talk on their own timetable.  But I am keeping an eye on it.  We talk to them all the time.  We read to them.  We are doing our best.  The best that a parent of twins can do.  I think the pediatrician has caused me more concern than is necessary in the area of verbal communication.  But I would be fibbing if I said I wasn't worried at all.    

The boys have become very picky eaters.  It think this is normal for toddlers.  They so want to be independent and as such we can no longer feed them with a spoon.  I know we were spoiled for as long as they let us spoon feed them.  We are working on teaching the boys to use utensils but it is a challenge.  I would say the following are favorite foods at the moment .... blueberry waffles, bananas, blueberries, peaches, hot dogs, pizza, cheerios, Mum-Mum's, bran cereal, fruit crisps, animal crackers, peas, shredded cheese (Alex is obsessed), yogurt, and squeeze pouches.  I miss the days of their obsession with oatmeal.  It also provided me comfort that they were at least getting one good meal a day.  Now they prefer to graze.  And I'm okay with that.  I just want them to keep growing!!

We also switched to one nap a day!  And the adjustment period seems to be getting a bit better.  The current schedule looks like a version of the one below.

7:00 Wake-Up / Sippy Cup (milk)
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 Walk
9:00 Playtime
10:00 Snack / Juice (water) and Playtime
11:30 Lunch
12:30 - 2:30 Nap
2:30 Wake -Up / Sippy Cup (milk)
3:00 Playtime
4:30 Dinner
5:00 TV (Super Why or Seseme Street)
5:30 Walk
6:30 Bath / Story Time / Sippy Cup (milk)
7:15 Bedtime

There are still many days that the boys will take a cat nap on our evening walks.  I'm okay with this as both boys are still falling asleep within minutes of laying down.  Kara and I absolutely love the new schedule as it gives us many opportunities on the weekends to plan events.  And I think within a couple of more weeks the boys will be fully adjusted to the new schedule.

I think that is all for now!

Mary

just buy the kid a goat

I have a lot of updates.  And they are not in any chronological order.  And I am tired so you get the cliff notes version!

We took the boys to the zoo today.  We have a zoo membership so when we do head to the zoo it is typically only for a couple of hours before the crowd gets too crazy.  And we knew that because today was Labor Day all of the animals should be out.  And we were right!  It was a great visit.

Jakob is a bit indifferent about the animals.  He really just loves the chance to get out of his stroller from time to time and run around like a mad man.  And today was no exception.

 
But Alex is going to be our animal fanatic.  The boy loves the animals.  We got to see baby snow leopards!  And the polar bears!  And a manatee!  And a grizzly bear!  And flamingos!  And elephants!  And bison! And a ton of fish in the aquarium!  And then we visited the barn to see the goats and the sheep.  And Alex was beside himself with excitement (we know that Grandpa Park would be thrilled).  I guess all we need to do is get the boys some goats!

We would lift him up to see the goats and he would just babble away while pointing at them.  I think Alex would have pulled himself into the pen with the goats if we hadn't been there to play referee.  He had a blast!

The boys have also been a bit under the weather the last couple of days.  They just have stuffy noses and both have been cranky men.  They are also working on some new teeth.  So it was great for them to be distracted for a bit.

Oh and did I mention that we have been without an air conditioner for 4 days?  And did I mention that it has been upwards of 90 degrees each day?  And did I mention the boys have been sick?  Oh ... And did I mention that we decided this weekend would be a good time to drop to one nap a day?  Can anyone guess how our weekend has been?   Let's just say that tonight the boys were asleep at 7:15pm and I literally ran out of the nursery.  

So that has been our weekend in a nutshell.  It has just been extremely stressful.  None of it alone is horrible.  We count ourselves as extremely blessed which is why Kara and I have done our best to not complain through the last several days.  But the little things do start to build-up and Kara and I have taken it out on each other on more than one occasion.  The last several days have not been our finest moments as parents and as a couple.  I keep telling Kara that we are going to get divorced before we get married ....

Marriage?  Did I say the "m" word?

I told you there was a lot to talk about (and I'm only giving the cliff notes version).  So unless you have been living under a rock the last couple of months you will know that a lot of changed in this country.  I mentioned the repeal of DOMA in a previous blog entry.  And then on August 29th (a day that is typically associated with sadness as it is the day my amazing Grandfather passed away on in 2001) the IRS announced that all legal same-sex marriages would be recognized for federal tax purposes and so in the most romantic way possible I sent the following text message to Kara, "So when you are you going to make me an honest woman?"  Obviously our ultimate dream come true would be for the state of Ohio to recognize our marriage.  But Kara and I have said all along that when the time comes that not being married actually provides a disadvantage to our family then we would do whatever we needed to do to get married.  And while getting married would actually be a financial disadvantage to us from a yearly tax filing purpose it would be a significant financial advantage should something happen to one of us.  Plus should we ever need to use the other's employer sponsored health insurance plan it would be done so on a before tax basis instead of an after tax basis as it is done now.  So that means in the next several months Kara and I have decided to travel to New York to officially get married.  Whoa!  My heart beats a bit faster with those words.  But don't get too excited ... The actual date will probably be kept quiet, except from our immediate family, until after the actual event and the only people who will be at the actual marriage is Kara and me! (well and of course a random witness and an officiant).  There will be no pomp and circumstance.  But Kara and I do hope to turn it into our first "kid free" vacation since the boys were born .... Grandma and Grandpa Heitzman ... Will you babysit??  I couldn't be more excited to marry the most amazing woman in the world!  See?  I told you I was super blessed.

And one last random discussion for this blog entry.  Alex went to his first gymnastics class this past weekend and he had a SUPER AWESOME time!!  I was so proud of my little boy.  There were about 6 other students in the class between the ages of about 16 months to 3 years old.  The instructor was great.  The class is super unstructured in that while our class rotates to different stations every 15 minutes or so there is complete independence at each rotation.  The instructor demonstrates what a typical 3 year old should be able to accomplish and then each parent and child is free to work on that skill with the provided equipment.  The kids still learn to interact with other kids and also to "wait their turn" but there is a lot of freedom with the class.  Alex got to hang from a bar and learned how to jump on a trampoline!  Alex giggled on more than one occasion during the class and even listened to the instructor as she worked one on one with him.  I am excited to go to more classes and I really hope Alex continues to enjoy them.  And he got a super awesome hand stamp at the end of class.

Mary

15 month stats

Jakob

Weight: 20 lbs 9 oz (6th percentile)
Length: 30 inches (14th percentile)

Alex

Weight: 19 lbs 9 oz (3rd percentile)
Length: 28.75 inches (9th percentile)

Mary

our new motto

We have it a new motto in our household - "We did try." - and I think it can be used to sum up the past weekend.

We headed to Pennsylvania this past weekend to visit with family.  And it was somewhat of a big, fat fail with a bit of wonderful thrown in between and it all occurred in only a 12 hour time span.

The boys don't get to visit with Grandma & Grandpa Russell and Great Grandma Mimi all that often because of the distance between us.  So we try to make an effort to head to Pennsylvania whenever we get a rare free weekend.  The last time we traveled to Pennsylvania was at Thanksgiving and the boys were a whopping 6 months old.  And with the exception of all the stuff we had to pack for the boys the trip could be classified as super easy.  This time we made the trip with toddlers.  And there was nothing easy about it!  The boys did GREAT in the car.  But that's only because we finally became "those parents" and installed a DVD player in the car.  All we had to do was rotate snacks and keep Super Why on constant play and the boys were beyond content with life.  We made a stop on the way to Pennsylvania at Grandpa's Cheese Barn in Ashland, Ohio.  Never been?  OMG!!  We have driven by it year after year after year and we have never taken the time to stop and take a look around.  We were missing out.  It is basically a mecca of cheeses and meats and snacks and sweets and just all around yummy goodness!  And there are about a bazillion free samples.  I did not need lunch afterwards.  And after about 45 minutes and a maxed out credit card later (only kidding) we got back on the highway towards Pennsylvania.  The boys only slept for about 30 minutes in the car.  We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Russell's at about 1:00 pm.  The grandparents are in the middle of a major house remodel so the boys had a blast exploring all the construction chaos.

The boys did not stop moving for the entire 2 hours we were at the house.  We had early dinner plans with Great Grandma Mimi so Kara and I loaded the boys up in the car around 3:00 pm and drove around Presque Isle with the hope that the boys would nap before dinner.  We only managed about another 30 minutes of sleep.  We got to Great Grandma Mimi's around 4:15 pm and the boys got to spend the next couple of hours exploring every inch of the condo.  Have I mentioned that they NEVER EVER stop moving?  But they loved every minute of the visit and Kara and I absolutely would not trade watching Mimi interact with the boys.  We even got a few good snapshots.  There was a moment where I went into the kitchen and Jakob was staring up at Mimi as she talked about some unknown topic and it just took my breath away to watch them together.  The boys are so lucky to get to know a great grandparent.  That moment alone made the difficulty of the trip worth it.  We left Great Grandma Mimi's around 6:30 pm with the intention of heading back to Grandma and Grandpa Russell's for the night.  But our toddler boys had other intentions that they did not bother to share with Mommy and Momma before we started on our journey to Pennsylvania.  We got the boys into their pajamas and instantly both boys entered major meltdown mode.  There was not a single thing we could do to calm them down.  And believe me we tried our hardest.  Kara and I were also exhausted.  It had been a physically draining day on us.  And we both knew that the comfort of our home was only 4 hours away.  And we both knew that the boys would sleep with zero problems if we could only get them home.  And we both knew that neither boy would sleep at Grandma and Grandpa Russell's house.  So we made the decision to head home.  It broke Kara's heart.  And as a result the tears started to flow.  Have I mentioned that I rarely see Kara cry?  It was a rough moment.  I often forget how far away Kara is from her family.  I take it for granted to have my parent's literally around the corner from us.  So the last thing Kara wanted to do was leave after only a few hours.  But she made the ultimate sacrifice for her little boys and we loaded up the car.  The boys did a fairly decent job on the way home.  We did have a major fail.  I did not notice until we got home that Jakob was absolutely soaked from head to toe.  The lid to his sippy cup must not have been on all the way and so he had dumped his entire sippy cup all over himself at the beginning of the 4 hour trip home.  Oops!!  No wonder he kept waking up during the drive home.  Kara and I keep each other awake during the trip home and thanks to a lot of caffeine we made the trip with no problems.  We pulled into the driveway a bit after midnight.  We decided to do our normal bedtime routine to ensure that the boys would fall asleep with no problem.  So my other memory of this day ... watching the boys have a blast in the bath tub at 12:30 am.  It was great!

So  ... "We did try!"

We also got an invite from some new friends to try out a "Mommy and Me" style music class.  It was free.  So Jakob and I decided to give it a whirl.  Kara and I are actively trying to find some one-on-one activities to do with the boys.  And we thought this would be a great fit for Jakob.  He is a very social little boy and we thought he would love to sing songs and dance with other little kids.

The good news?  Jakob and I didn't officially get kicked out of the class.

The bad news?  The only reason we didn't get kicked out was because we walked ran out before the class ended.

Did I mention it was only a 30 minute class?

I think it was a great program.   And I am sure it would be wonderful for many kids.  But just not my kid!  It was an extremely structured class.  I was not expecting that at all.  And my 15 month old toddler does not understand a structured environment.  We let Jakob and Alex learn by exploring everything that is around them.  We only guide them in terms of safety issues.  So when we tried to do this class Jakob entered full meltdown mode in about 20 seconds.

Problem #1: There were toys all around the room that Jakob was not allowed to touch.  Have you ever told a 15 month old to not touch the toys?  The bright and colorful toys?

Problem #2: The instructor wanted us to walk around in a circle.  Why was my kid the only one who wanted to basically do a sprint across the room?  And I would finally get Jakob to walk in a circle and the instructor would tell us to turn around and go in the other direction. NO!!!

Problem #3: The instructor would give Jakob a toy to use for an activity but the activity would only last for 2 minutes and then Jakob would be expected to give the toy back.  WHAT?  I kept silently begging for the instructor to just forget that we had the toy.

Problem #4:  And then the worst part came when the instructor pulled out a xylophone for an activity.  We have a xylophone at home for Jakob and Alex.  And they absolutely love the toy.  So immediately Jakob did a made dash for the xylophone and while I was holding on to the back of his t-shirt with all my might all I kept hearing from the instructor was, "Jakob we need to wait our turn."  And all the while I was thinking to myself, "I've failed as a parent."  I have no idea how to teach my 15 month old to wait his turn without causing a meltdown.  When Jakob and Alex fight over a toy we use the power of distraction to solve the problem.  I guess that's not the answer.  So basically the xylophone was the final straw.  And because the instructor was giving us the evil eye I made the decision that our Mommy and Me days were officially over!!  I was sweating up a storm.  And I basically made a made sprint to the car.

I'm also fairly certain that I scared away our new friends!

Did I mention that I was a safety town dropout when I was a kid?  I guess Jakob is following in my footsteps.

So ... "We did try!"

And in other news ...

* Jakob learned how to climb the stairs in Pennsylvania.  He now climbs the stairs at home with zero problems.
* I swear that Alex said "Dog" the other day.  But we haven't heard it again.
* And tonight I officially gave the boys a bath together for the first time ... ALONE!!

Mary

be still my heart

There are certain pictures that make my heart skip a beat.  There is no greater love.

Mary

15 months

The boys are 15 months old!

What are we eating?

I think we have really picky eaters.  But I think I might be alone in those sentiments.  I am told the boys eat a ton during the day so the picky eating should come as no surprise when I try to feed them dinner each night.  I only see them eat dinner though so I think they are picky eaters.  The boys are obsessed with sippy cups!  They love them some juice, water, and milk.  We are still really only eating finger foods.  We have introduced a fork and spoon but at this point the utensils are only used as weapons or drum sticks.  The boys sit down to 3 meals each day (8am, Noon, 5pm) and also graze a lot during the day.  Here is a list of some of the recent foods the boys seem to enjoy tolerate.  I noted their favorite foods with a *.

Oatmeal (w/ fiber one cereal)*, Banana*, Peaches*, Blueberries*, Grapes, Melon, Prunes, Pancakes, Eggs, Blueberry Waffles*, Sausage, French Toast, Hotdogs*, Hamburgers, Cheerios, Sweet Potato French Fries, Puffs, Graham Crackers*, Granola Bars, Ice Cream*, Shredded Cheese*, Block Cheese*  

The boys still drink about 16 - 18 oz of milk each day.  We need to start incorporating sippy cups into mealtime.  It's one of the areas where we have perhaps failed a bit.  It is often hard to break "bad" habits because they really do make the days so much better!

How are we sleeping?

They boys are still sleeping really awesome at night!  (please don't jinx it)  We go upstairs for bath time each night at 7pm.  I am now bathing the boys in the big boy tub and they seem to really be enjoying it.  I can actually get both boys to sit in the tub.  This is an improvement as it took weeks for Alex to relax the death grip on my t-shirt.  I swear he was trying to pull me into the tub too.  I have not mastered bathing both boys at the same time.  It still makes me too nervous.  I really wish I would get the courage to bath them together because now we are having temper tantrums as a result of not being able to play in the tub all that long.  The boys still get a sippy cup with milk before bed.  I cannot in a million years imagine getting rid of this.  And I am sure many parents would slap me on the wrist for still giving a "bottle" before bed.  The boys are always in bed by 7:30pm each night and sleep until about 6:30am or 7:00am each day.

We are slowly transitioning to one nap a day.  And it scares the crap out of me.  I just want the boys to continue to be champion sleepers.  We were noticing that the afternoon nap was becoming a bit of a struggle.  So instead of transitioning to one nap cold turkey we have decided to shorten the morning nap in hopes of continuing with the afternoon nap.  The boys still show signs of needing to take a nap about 10am.  It's just that if we let them sleep uninterrupted they would sleep until Noon.  And then the afternoon nap would be out the door.  But there is no way for them to stay up until 7:30pm.  So we are letting them sleep for about an hour during the morning nap and then they take an afternoon nap for between 60 - 90 minutes.  And it seems to be working.  We hope to bump up the morning nap to a later time once the boys start showing signs of refusing the afternoon nap again.  

Random Stuff

* Jakob learned how to walk backwards!
* The boys can respond to some simple commands now.  "Where is your head?" "Go get me a book." "Go get me your shirt." "Where is your sippy cup?"
* Both boys have learned how to take the safety plugs out of the electrical outlets.  Yippee.
* Alex is a klutz!  I think it's because he has a big head.  He has a smorgasbord of bruises on his forehead. (please don't come to my house child services)  But at the same time that little boy is tough and as a result he rarely cries for a long time after getting an ouchie.

See my newest bump?

* They boys still love to take the vents out of the floor.
* We have entered the temper tantrum stage.  It's so much fun to try and control a 15 month old who is throwing a temper tantrum right after a bath.  I feel like I am wrestling with a greased pig.
* We are getting better about brushing our teeth.  We can at least get the toothbrush in their mouth.
* They still love Super Why!.
* They boys are obsessed with the dog leashes and can spend hours pretending to walk the dogs through the living room.  They grab a leash and drag it behind themselves just like they are walking the dogs. They will also chase after the dogs and try to get them on the leash.
* We got the boys bean bag chairs.  Too cute.

* They absolutely love to play outside.  They could spend hours digging in dirt or looking for rocks.

* They love to watch big trucks.  The garbage truck is a favorite.  And Alex is obsessed with airplanes.
* Both boys babble a lot but there are really no new words.
* Jakob - Mom, Mama, Thank You, and Bye-Bye
* Alex - Mom and Mama
* The boys love to read.  Jakob is a fan of sitting in our lap with a good book.
* The boys are still mostly in 12 month and 12-18 month clothes.  Most of which are still too big for Alex!  I almost think he will be able to wear the same shorts next summer.
* The boys have no problems walking and both boys can stand up without any assistance these days.

The boys have their 15 month appointment next week.  I am anxious to see how much they have grown.  I don't think they have really put on a lot of weight but they have definitely gotten much taller.

Mary

a day in the life

I cannot take credit for this idea!  But after reading several blogs we decided it would be neat to document a day in the life of the boys at 14 months old!

We made it to 6:55am!  

You can hear the chit chat over the baby monitor with a bit of screaming thrown in for good measure.  The troops are restless. I (Momma) am responsible for getting the boys up in the morning while Kara takes the dogs for a walk.

Good Morning World!  These are some hungry boys.  It is time to go downstairs.

Now we are happy!  Yum.  Yum.  It is time to change these stinky diapers.  I'm not sure how I would ever change a poopy diaper without the aid of a sippy cup.

All better.  It's time to play before Momma has to go to work.  Farmer Alex gets busy checking on the animals.

Here is a picture of Mommy hard at work! (take note of the coffee mug)

Our first wardrobe change of the day.  That cup of coffee?  There was a bit of a mishap.  No worries!  There were no injuries.  And the graham cracker?  You can call it a before breakfast snack.  We have growing boys!

7:30am: It's off to work for Momma.  This is my view everyday as I say "good-bye" to the family.  So blessed.

8:00am:  Mommy works hard to fix breakfast while the boys tear apart play in the playroom.  On the menu this morning ... Oatmeal, Eggs, and Banana Pancakes.

It's vitamin D time!

8:45am:  It's time for a walk with Mommy!  The boys spend a lot of time outdoors and have absolutely loved going on walks since they were newborns.  Today it is a 3 mile stroll around the neighborhood.  Jakob called shotgun!

9:30am: The boys get juice and water when they get back from the morning walk.  You can see Alex holding onto the sippy cup with all the strength he can muster.  That boy loves him some juice and water.  On the other hand Jakob has already been distracted by some shiny object.

10:00am: It's nap time!  We read the boys two stories before bedtime.  Today it was Happy Hippo Angry Duck and The Going to Bed Book.

11:30am:  It took Jakob about 45 minutes to fall asleep.  So Mr. Jakob is grumpy when it is time to wake-up.  Too bad.  We keep on a tight schedule in this household.  It's time to get dressed and have our bottles!
Don't we look dapper?

Noon: It's lunchtime!  We need to eat a big lunch because ...

... we are off to the park!!

The first item on the agenda at the park.  The swings.  The boys could swing all day long!

Next up ... the ducks!! The boys love to watch the ducks at the pond.

The boys spent the rest of the time at the park running around like crazy men.  Ok.  That's not totally true.  Alex sat next to the stroller trying to figure out how it works and Jakob ran around like a crazy man.

2:30pm:  It's nap time.  And after a bad morning nap (cough cough Mr. Jakob) and a few hours at the park the boys were exhausted!  Both slept soundly until 4pm when it was time to get up.  I told you we keep to a schedule.

Now it is milk time again.  The boys are usually really fussy after this nap so we are still trying to workout where the best place is to take the sippy cups.  The crib seems to be the best at this point.

4:15pm:  We get to play while we wait for Momma to get home from work.  Today we have turned our chairs into push carts.  Hold on Snoopy!!

4:30pm: Momma is home.  I get to see this everyday!

4:40pm:  And faster than we can blink in this house it is time to say "good-bye" to Mommy.

4:45pm:  The boys get to play while I cook put together dinner.  Alex is just hoping he doesn't get food poisoning tonight.

5:00pm: Dinner!  How did I do?  On the menu tonight ... Banana Pancake, Hot dog, Peaches, and Orzo Salad.  That all goes together.  Right?

The dogs love dinner time too!

5:30pm:  The boys get to play in the living room and watch Super Why while I clean-up from dinner.  This is the only television of the day.  But actually there always is very little television watching these days.  Why would we want to watch television when we can climb-up on objects?  Back in the day I could put them in the pack-n-play. Not so much now!

We love to play with the dog stuff!

5:45pm:  It's now time for a walk with Momma!  This time we only do 2.5 miles.  I always give the boys a high-five after we finish the walk.

And of course we get juice and water when we get back.  It's hard to push that double stroller the whole way!

And now it is playtime with Momma before we get ready for bed.  A little light reading anyone?

7:00pm:  It is bath time!  We have been introducing the potty to the boys.  They sit on it every night before they get in the tub.  They have no idea what is going on but we want them to not be afraid of the potty.  And actually Jakob has peed in the potty several times.  Here is Jakob inspecting the situation!

Alex is slowing starting to warm up to the idea of the big bath tub.  Now if only I could get him to actually sit in the tub.

The boys get a final sippy cup before bedtime.  We brush our teeth.  And then it is story time.  I think Alex is ready for some books.

Tonight we read Mommy, Mama, and Me and The Going to Bed Book (it's a favorite).

And it is bedtime!  Right on schedule ... heck ... tonight we managed to be a minute early!!

It was a great day!

Mary