Tooth! Step!

Things have been active around here lately. Tyler is FINALLY getting his first tooth. It started on Thursday, the 22nd. He had a fever and we thought he might be getting sick but then John noticed he was pulling at his mouth. We checked and sure enough...that first tooth was breaking skin! Brody still has none. John and I have both said that we'll miss their toothless grins. They've been around for so long. On to another stage!

Then the very next day Tyler one-upped himself and took his very first step all by himself! We were over by the stairs and he was standing unassisted (been doing this for a while now). Then he just decided to side-step to the bathroom and took not one but TWO steps in a row to get there! He didn't even act like it was any big deal...wasn't proud of himself or anything. But I was clapping like a mad-woman.

They are getting to be such BIG boys!!

They are so good at keeping things from each other. It's funny to watch. If Brody wants Tyler's toy (usually Brody's the instigator) Tyler will do everything possible to avoid losing that toy. He will switch hands, move around in circles away from Brody, crawl away or just about try anything to keep it away. One time a few days ago Brody was playing keep away and he was dangerously close to losing his ball to Tyler until he threw it across the room and then quickly crawled after it and got there before Ty. Ingenious! So entertaining these boys are!

Tyler turns everything into a phone, including the remote, calculator, Hunter's sunglasses, you name it and he puts it to his ear. He also loves to put things on his head as "hats," for instance, his sand toys (haven't been put in sand yet thankfully), clothing, the phone, whatever is close by that he can lift! It's pretty cute!

One Year

This post is embarrassingly late but I did want to write about their BIG milestone of reaching one year old (June 13th). We had a nice party and lots of friends and family attended. The theme was "Dr. Seuss" and we had lots of great decorations and food. The kids played "Pin the Wocket on Baby's Pocket." Grammie flew from Arizona to spend 11 days with all of us, which was great fun! It rained for a while during the party so everyone came inside. Our house is not big enough for that many people but it made for a memorable party. Brody and Tyler LOVED the cake! They ate so much of it...handfuls literally. I definitely got my cake-face pictures this time around. Hunter didn't eat one morsel for his first birthday. It was pretty cute to watch. All of the kids at the party hovered around their highchairs to watch them eat it. There was lots of laughter. People, including kids, just love babies and twins makes it double the entertainment!

The boys are doing so much lately. Both are climbing to the top of the stairs. Brody did this first and Tyler followed about a week later (he just accomplished this about three or four days ago). Brody has started to sign "more" and I think "milk" too. Tyler hasn't demonstrated any signs yet. At their one-year doctor's appointment we received some new stats:

Tyler 29.5 in (25%) and 18 lbs. 14 1/2 oz. (3%)
Brody 28 3/4 in (10%) and 19 lbs. 1 oz. (5%)

They're a little small for their age but their Pediatrician doesn't seem alarmed as long as they are growing. They got a few immunizations and had to have blood drawn for a lead test. This was HORRIBLE! John came with for the appointment but had to leave right before all of the pokes because he had to go to work. So I held Tyler for his two pokes but had to put him down (still crying) in order to hold Brody for his two pokes. Then we had to go down the hall and do it all over again with the blood draws (which were worse because they had to stick a needle in their arm for that one). I really hate going to the well-baby checks when they have to get poked. :( It breaks my heart! We held off on giving them their MMR because of all the controversy surrounding autism and that particular shot. We'll probably wait until just before they go to Kindergarten to have that done.

We have switched them to cow's milk for the majority of their feedings. They are still nursed twice a day, morning and night, but this is more for nurturing than for nourishment. We are now buying four gallons of milk at a time and running out before the week's end (that's for the whole family).

The babies are eating more and more table foods...fruit cut up into tiny bites, cheese, pancakes, waffles, turkey and veggie burgers, pasta, bread, and peas but they still don't have any teeth! They are good at gumming everything and are GREAT eaters. The only thing they don't like very much so far is green beans and rice.

They are so much fun to watch and so distinct in their personalities. Tyler LOVES to jump. He jumps in his crib every morning, night and nap time, holding onto the crib railing. Brody sometimes joins in. It's fun to go and get them after their naps and see them both happily jumping together in their respective cribs. Brody is so verbal! He is downright LOUD! He's not talking yet but he gets his point across in his little baby babbles and squeals.
They steal toys and other things from each other and occasionally share, offering each other a toy or nook and returning it a few seconds later.

Brody loves playing with balls. It's his favorite thing to do. He lifts them up over his head and throws them to roll across the room (even heavy full-sized basketballs!) and then chases after them. Then repeats!

When we are tickling one of them the other will laugh also (even when un-touched). When we do something goofy to get one to smile, we get a bonus smile from the other baby as well.
They are both standing unassisted for at least 10 seconds at a time and crawling very quickly now. No walking yet, except around furniture.

We went on our first family outing of the summer yesterday. It's tough to get away with our schedules so it didn't happen until halfway through the summer but it was worth the wait! We went to Idle Isle Park in Muskego for some fun in the sun. Hunter and John fished from the pier and I hung out with Tyler & Brody on a big blanket. We had a nice picnic lunch together and then went swimming in the lake. It was Tyler & Brody's first time in open water, or any water other than bath. Tyler was a little timid at first and acted as if he was going to cry but warmed up after about 10 minutes and started splashing. Brody loved it from the start and giggled a lot. Hunter had a great time swimming and jumping off the pier. He is such a water bug!

Hunter is so GREAT with them. If they are crying he tries his best to distract them with his five-year-old antics. He gets them to laugh most times and to forget why they were sad to begin with.

That's all I can think of right now but I'm sure I'm leaving a ton out. I will post new pics soon!