the park

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the last few days and we have been taking full advantage of it!

We went to a local park over the weekend to let the boys explore.  We went to the park after a horrible morning nap in which the boys slept a total of 30 minutes so we knew we needed to do something exciting to keep them awake until the next nap time.  The boys had a blast.  There was a duck pond at the park so we started the afternoon watching the ducks and attempting to get the boys to eat some lunch.  But of course that didn't go over so great.  I mean there were DUCKS!  We were able to find a really big field and that meant we could let the boys run all around without any danger.  That is except for the goose poop.  What is it with little boys and poop?  It's like peanut butter and jelly.  Obsessed with it!  Anyhow Jakob took off running right away and actually had no reservations about exploring new things without any help.  He loved to chase after the ducks and pick up any sticks that he could find.

However, it took some time for Alex to warm up to the idea of exploring on his own.  It was much more exciting to sit and eat grass.  The kid will eat grass but I can't get him to eat real food.  Okay.

Eventually both of the boys got tired of running around and instead preferred to sit on the blanket and take everything out of the diaper bag.  The boys had the whole world to explore and instead they wanted to play with extra diapers, sunglasses, wipes, and snacks.  So we all sat down to rest for a few minutes and Kara and I managed to get the boys to eat a few pieces of lunch.  It was a success if you consider 2 banana cookies and 2 bites of a peach a well rounded lunch.

We decided to explore the nature trails after lunch before we hit up the playground.  Kara and I quickly learned that we stink at reading a map and promptly got lost.  We knew we were in trouble when we had to do a bit of off roading with the strollers.  It's a good thing we have two little boys who go for walks all the time.  They really had no idea that we didn't have a clue as to where we were going.  And both were just as content as could be.  So what does any good person who is lost do ... they just turn around and backtrack to the starting point.  So 28 hours 45 minutes later we emerged from the jungle woods to find a beautiful lake parking lot.  And decided that our exploring days were over.

The boys spent the remainder of the time enjoying the swing set.  Our boys sure do love to swing!

It was a really nice afternoon to spend as a family.  We enjoy these times together because they are such a rarity in our household.

Mary

making friends

We have been trying to make friends.  I feel like I am back in elementary school again.  I guess it's important to note that I have never been good at making friends.  It's always hard to make friends when you absolutely hate talking to new people.  And even harder because Kara and I are both equally as introverted and would rather stay at home then go to a social event.  I have always had a handful of friends.  Of course these friends have changed over the years because life circumstances change each year.  So now that we are a family with kids we are trying to make friends with other families with kids.  We have been hit or miss in the friend arena up to this point.  We have successfully gone on a few different play dates with mixed results.  We just haven't managed to hit if off with too many of the families.  It's hard to find families with kids of a similar age and to find families that match with our interests and parenting beliefs.  However, we think we may have finally found a young family that could potentially become great friends with the boys.  We met on a local online message board.  The family, a lesbian couple, have a 7 month old little boy and live about 15 minutes from us.  Their story is eerily similar to our story.  They even went to the same RE as us!  We have all gotten together a few times and the boys seem to get along quite great (as much as a 14 month old and a 7 month old can get along).  We all got together yesterday afternoon and all the boys were dressed in the same Carter overall outfits!  It was too cute.  I think we are going to get together for a pool date soon which should be fun.  So anyhow I hope this is the start of a great friendship for us all.

And as a side note ... Jakob can now stand-up from a sitting position without any assistance.  And now he is unstoppable.  And of course this new found freedom has come with some additional bumps and bruises as Jakob thinks he can just run everywhere instead of walking when it is necessary.    

Mary

hodgepodge

* "Bye-Bye" - Jakob's 1st words!  Kara was leaving for work this past Saturday morning and as she went around the corner to walk out the front door Jakob turned around and waved and said, "Bye-Bye."  It was clear as day.  Kara came darting around the corner with, "Did he just say what I think he said?"  I will remember it always!

* We have all been sick the last week.  We can thank Mr. Alex for spreading the love around the household.  We all had variations of fever, headache, muscle aches, and sore throats.  I even went to the Minute Clinic over the weekend because I wanted to rule out strep throat.  We all seem to be on the mend now.  The boys did fairly decent for their inaugural illnesses.  There was a lot of whining and need for cuddles but otherwise the boys soldiered through the germs.    

* Did I mention we managed to make it to 14 months old before the boys even had so much as a sniffle?  Not too bad for 34 week preemies!

* We took a trip to Kentucky over the 4th of July weekend.  We had a blast celebrating the 1st Birthday of Miss. Nola but please remind me the next time we travel how much Alex does not like to sleep anywhere other than the nursery.  We have been so rigid with keeping the boys on a schedule that any variation from that schedule is a bit of a disaster.  Alex would not sleep in the pack-n-play.  And in fact Alex would not sleep at all unless I was holding him.  We had actually finally gotten Alex to fall asleep around Midnight so I made an attempt to sneak out of bed to go get "ready for bed" (I had not even peed since we stepped in the hotel room).  Alex was snuggled up against me in the middle of the bed so Kara just slipped her arm around Alex to "replace me" and I literally moved over 2 inches to start to get out of bed.  Yep.  The screaming immediately started again.  So at midnight Alex was in the bathroom with me!  I even had to hold him while I was peeing or he would start to scream bloody murder.  He slept the rest of the night snuggled up against me.  So I guess technically it wasn't all that bad.  And if you were wondering Jakob slept through the entire thing.  The boy can sleep anywhere and at anytime.     

* I have had a lot on my mind the last several weeks.  I think I need an outlet to get out those thoughts but unfortunately I don't think this is the venue.  Urghh.  And then each time I sit down to write I just stare at the screen.  So there is that too.  

We are busy these days.  But it is a good busy.  The boys are utterly amazing little men (who drive us crazy a lot of the time) and we cannot get over how blessed we are to be their Mommy and Mama.  I wish I could devote more time to this blog.  I try.  I promise.  I just wish I did a better job.  But for now I will settle with the few random entries I get posted from time to time. 

Mary

an update

It's been a long time.

The boys are doing GREAT!

We had some really significant poop issues with Alex!  But I think we have finally turned the corner.  We have been battling some significant constipation with our little man.  It was breaking my heart to watch him scream and cry in pain multiple times every day.  He would literally grab on to me with a death grip each time he had to poop.  And it really zapped the energy from Alex.  He just was not the same little boy.  But we made a lot of changes.

Rule # 1 - It is impossible for Alex to have too much fiber in his diet.  Jakob on the other ... not so much!
Rule # 2 - I will not be demoted to the worst parent of the year club simply for introducing juice into their diet.  We now have little boys who drink upwards of 20 ounces of water (mixed with 4 ounces of juice) each day in addition to the 16 ounces of milk they were drinking prior to the poop issues.
Rule # 3 - Our current solution to the poop issues is Miralax.  Alex gets 1/2 teaspoon 2x per day and has had zero issues pooping since it started to work!  The diet changes alone were not solving our problem.
Rule # 4 - Do not enter the nursery on any morning after Jakob accidentally gets Alex's bottle with the Miralax from the night before.

Both boys are officially walking ALL OVER THE PLACE!!  Jakob spends all day just walking back and forth between the living room and the playroom.  He actually was sweating the other day because he would not stop moving!  It is interesting to watch the boys walk.  Jakob "walks now and thinks later" so he does a lot of falling down while Alex "thinks now and walks with small cautious steps" and thus avoids a lot of falling down.  They could not be more different from one another.  I would classify Jakob as having learned to walk at 12 months and Alex as having learned to walk at 13 months.  They were only weeks apart from one another.

Both boys can ... (1) wave good-bye, (2) clap, (3) give a high-five, and (4) give kisses!

We still don't have big talkers.  Both boys babble quite a bit but there are really no "real" words.  They both say "mama" all the time but don't have any idea what it means.  It's just their sound of choice.

I thought it would be interesting to note our daily schedule so I can look back at it for reference.

7:00 am - Wake-Up and Sippy Cup (4 oz whole milk)
7:15 am - 7:45 am - Playtime with Mommy and Momma.
8:00 am - Breakfast
9:00 am - Snack and Sippy Cup (1 oz pear juice / 5 oz water)
10:00 am - Nap
11:30 am - Sippy Cup (4 oz whole milk)
Noon - Lunch
12:30 pm - A walk with Mommy.
2:00 pm - Snack and Sippy Cup (1 oz pear juice / 5 oz water)
2:30 pm - Nap
4:00 pm - Sippy Cup (4 oz whole milk)
5:00 pm - Dinner
5:20 pm - Super Why! (again call the bad parent club as I let my 13 month old boys watch 10 minutes of television a day)
5:30 pm - A walk with Momma.
6:15 pm - Snack and Sippy Cup (1 oz pear juice / 5 oz water)
7:00 pm - Bath and Sippy Cup (4 oz whole milk).
7:30 pm - Bedtime.

And of course there is playtime in between all those activities!

What we typically eat ...

Breakfast - Prunes, Oatmeal (w/fiber cereal), Eggs, Blueberry Waffles, Pancakes, Sausage, Fruit
Lunch and Dinner - Prunes, Hotdogs, Hamburgers, Fruit, Cheese, Yogurt, Pasta
Snack - Whole Wheat Crackers, Cheerios, Puffs, Granola Bars, Mum-Mum's

We really do not have picky eaters at the moment.  We shall see how long that lasts.

Okay.  That's all for now.

Mary