Year 1, Month 2, Week 2

The boys and I had a really busy week.  On Monday we went to Costco with J and Ana to get the boys some chicken patties.  We were looking for something to do while the cleaners were here and that was the best we could come up with.  Afterwards we ate lunch with J, N (her husband), and Ana at McAlister's.  It's funny how I'll order an adult and kids meal but the boys will eat half of mine (in this case a baked potato) and I'll eat part of theirs (hating mac 'n cheese is their loss!).

Jim and I have found the ultimate solution to eating out with the boys.  Honestly I don't know why it didn't occur to us sooner.  Buffets.  There's no wait to get the boys food, so I'm not stuffing them full of cracker just waiting on their meal to arrive.  They eat for free since they're under two.  This might not sound important but Alex and Zach combined eat about the same amount as an adult.  We've had to order each of them a kid's meal a few times now, and at $5 a pop, it adds up.  No left overs!  Again, this might not be obvious but our boys really, really don't like eating the same things in a row.  Very rarely I can cover something in cheese and fake them out.  So leftovers sit, then I have to throw them out.

Tuesday we went over to H and B's house.  H is 28 weeks along with fraternal boys and B is her 17mo old son.  She's on 100% bedrest and stuck in a gap where help from friends ran out but her mom isn't due to arrive for a couple of weeks.  Her husband works during the day but does what he can.  We took a turn helping and watching B.  I made them a broccoli casserole and peach/raspberry cobbler, since meals can be rough.

The day was much more exhausting than I expected.  I guess I thought one more boy would be a little harder, but still reasonable.  What I didn't know was their playroom was too small for all of us to comfortably fit.  They also have two really big dogs that our boys were petrified of.  I'm talking literally unable to move and bursting into tears every time the dogs came into view.

We made due, though.  The kitchen chairs were too small for the boys' booster seats.  So, I fed all three boys in the living room, with Alex and Zach's chairs up on the couch, and B's high chair pulled along side.  I had to get them off the floor or the dogs would have jacked their food and given them permanent emotional scars.

I was also freaked out that I was supposed to feed B hotdogs for lunch.  There's few things that our boys have never had and this is one of them.  The choking hazard issue is just too much for me to chance it.  I watched B like a hawk and cut each doggy disk into tiny pieces, determined he wasn't going to croak on my watch.  Luckily he survived.

The house wasn't super baby proofed (but props for gates on the stairs!) so just keeping an eye on 3 boys was a challenge.  I didn't really appreciate it before, but our house's kitchen/living room/playroom/bathroom are all in a line, giving me a distinct advantage when it comes to monitoring little kids.  This house was more L shaped, so if I was dealing with a boy at one end, I was blind to the other.  The idea us of having another kid seemed a whole lot less appealing by the end of the day.

Wednesday we went to another H's house, but this one has two 10mo boys, L and L.  I'm so used to our boys and their identicalness, it's fun to be around obvious fraternals.  L1 is blond haired, blue eyed, and a flirt.  L2 is brown haired, brown eyed, and more reserved.  L2 is also visibly bigger than L1.  M and her two 11mo identical girls, A and B, were there, too.  So it was 3 adults and 6 little kids.

Initially I was worried that our boys (being the only walkers) would maul the others but that wasn't the case.  Everyone was standing and cruising, and the only incident was between Zach and Alex.  It was over a toy and Alex ended up with two bite marks on his elbow.  Sigh.

I don't know how to say this without sounding like a snob.  Sometimes I get so caught up in doing what I think is best for the boys, I sort of loose track of what's normal.  Mostly this centers around food.  We do the whole grains, no corn syrup, little sugar, low sodium, selectively organic dance at the grocery store every week.  I've been known to carry boxes from the "normal aisle" to the "natural aisle" to compare labels.

At H's house she provided sandwich materials for lunch - white bread, prepackaged meat, individually wrapped sliced cheese.  There was also salad (the three of us can't chew it) and crackers.  Her kids ate some jarred baby food.  For some reason I felt incredibly liberated.  She just bought normal stuff and they ate it, and we were, too.  She didn't look like she felt guilty because the whole wheat bread she researched didn't still contain some evaporated cane juice.  There was no agony over whether her boys' love of salty foods should be enabled with pretzel sticks or abated with low sodium crackers.  She just grabbed what everyone else does and her kids were perfectly healthy.  The occasional chicken nugget probably won't stunt my boys.

Friday we went to J and Ana's, but a little late.  I put the boys down for their normal morning nap at 9am.  They slept about 30min and woke up in crazy cranky moods at 10am.  Ugh.  I figured we'd all lay down on our bed until their attitudes adjusted more towards happy.  We all fell asleep for another 2hrs.  Sigh.  We were supposed to eat lunch at J and Ana's.  It was noon and the boys were starving.  Somehow I managed to feed them, change diapers, and get us all out the door in 30min.  (Ok, so I cheated and made them eat Cheerios in the car on the way.)  To make things worse, I when I call J to tell her we're really late, I find out she tried to get a hold of me and was imagining us all dead along the road somewhere.

We ended up having a good afternoon anyways, and stayed until after 5pm, making us late for dinner.  I guess I was just having one of those days.

As if this post wasn't long enough...  hehe  Zach has figured out how to stand up from the floor, ending about a week of frustration that Alex could do it but he couldn't.  Zach now happily pops up from anywhere.  Alex has discovered that heavy breathing through his mouth is fun.  It's like a mini Darth Vader walking around.  Zach makes car noises for anything he's driving around, be it a car, train, or a pop bottle.  Both boys have figured out how to hum into a kazoo.  Anything long and skinny gets hum tested, just to be sure it's not a kazoo.  If it turns out to be one, much laughing follows.

Throwing things has become a big issue around here.  So far no one's gotten hurt, but it's only a matter of time.  We ditched the inflatable tubs.  I just fill up the garden tub and toss in the boys.  They can stand or do whatever, unless it's playing with the blinds or trying to climb out.  Alex immediately went to work trying to evict all of the bath toys.  Zach practiced falling on his rear end, causing massive splashes.  Jim and I were soaked.

Jim and I decided to not only open a can of worms, but invite them for tea - we've been showing the boys how to climb the stairs.  Zach can go from bottom to top under his own power.  Alex likes to pretend he's stuck so we'll help him.  At Granny J's today they learned how to go down her one step into the living room.  Hopefully this will replace their previous method (falling off face first).  Stairs are not something I can do solo with them.  Too much gravity and not enough arms to catch them.

We've also been doing a fast walk while holding their arms.  It looks like their taking these giant steps very quickly towards the nursery.  Other things I wish we hadn't started include tossing them in the air, letting them play in the fridge, and showing them where I hid their school buses.

Year 1, Month 2, Week 1

Ok, I have no idea where the last 3 weeks went.  Everything is a blur.

Both boys are officially toddlers and prefer to walk everywhere now.  They've walked into the grocery store a few times and get mad when I put them in the race car cart.  I'd let them keep walking but they move like tiny old men and have to stop to look at everything.  I didn't even think we'd make it into the store at all last trip because a car alarm went off and Zach couldn't look away.  If I let them clomp around in their new shoes, it would take about 12hrs to get our shopping done.  hehe

Of course this means the wagon has lost a lot of luster.  They'll happily push it around but don't really want to be strapped in it at all.  We got them real walking shoes so we could practice balance more often and I wouldn't have to carry them as much.  At the Stride Rite store I bet you could hear the screams 15 stores away.  It sounded more like a foot amputation than a foot measuring.  They also hated wearing them the first day and refused to walk at all.

Now when I pull out the socks and shoes, they grab them and either hand them to me or try to put them on their feet by themselves.  They get really excited because they know it means we're going somewhere and walking is involved.  The initial resistance, followed by an especially funny high-step gait, is gone.  Shoes are happy times!

Their new-found walking skills have also brought around an unexpected surprise.  They can now navigate and steer the push toys by themselves.  No more lassos or tethers.  They just grab a bus or whatever and take off.  Sadly, it hasn't stopped the fighting over the same toy, though.  I guess that would be asking too much.

I've been feeling guilty lately about the stuff they've been eating.  There's been meals of just chicken nuggets and fries, or pizza.  About the only meal I feel good about is breakfast.  Cheerios with fruit, peanut butter on whole wheat, or eggs with turkey sausage are reasonable (and the only time I can get Zach to eat fruit).  I need to come up with some better lunch and dinner options.  It doesn't help that they won't eat the same thing twice in a row, like lunch leftovers for supper.

I tried making my own refried beans today, all 8 cups.  I've never been good at judging portion sizes.  They turned out alright and the boys happily ate them.  I've been reading about BPA's in canned food, so I figured I could try this and freeze the extras.  Plus, you can't beat $1.50 for 1lb of dried pintos!

We've developed a good routine for naps and bedtime, maybe too good.  Alex has discovered crib jumping and Zach thinks it's the funniest thing he's ever seen.  One morning they were laughing and giggling for over an hour before going to sleep.  I'll also hear them pressing the paws on their dogs.  I'll think they're asleep until I hear barking followed by laughing.  I'm not complaining (who doesn't want 2hrs to get things done?) but it can be tricky getting naps in if we have to be somewhere in the late morning.

The boys now associate sleep sacks with going to bed.  They'll take off as soon as I pull them out.  I have to chase them down and combat the heavy complaining.  Once they're wrapped up, they'll just lay on the floor, play peek-a-boo, and laugh at each other.

Alex and Zach give really, really good hugs.  They'll walk over, grab you around the neck, and hold on. They'll also use their hands to tilt your face to theirs for a kiss from you.  It's crazy sweet.

I got braces a few weeks ago and quickly learned they weren't boy compatible.  I've had numerous busted lips and the last one has taken over a week to heal (until Zach reopened it this morning).  The dentist didn't have much by the way of options beyond just covering my lower brackets with wax.  Early on the boys would try to get me to open my mouth so they could see the braces.  Zach especially wanted to touch them and try to pull them off.  Now they don't even notice them I don't think.

Jim's dad passed away since I made my last post.  He had prostate cancer and will be missed.  The boys didn't get much time with him and never did make it on a tractor ride unfortunately.

We also took a mini vacation last week.  Jim's mom rented a house in the Smoky Mountains and invited us and all of the boys' cousins (and their families).  There were 7 adults and 6 little boys running around.  Alex and Zach had an absolute blast.  They stayed up late just about every night playing with their cousins.  It was also good for them to spend time with their grandma, aunts, and uncle.  It really helped them be less afraid of strangers.  They haven't cried at people since we got back.

We took them to the aquarium and they loved the stand alone tanks but not the walk-thru shark part.  I just don't think it was as brightly lit for some reason.  Zach bonked his head trying to look behind one of the jelly fish.  They ate their morning snack with the sting rays.  We let them walk everywhere and didn't even take the wagon out of the van.