Ghostie

The other day I put the boys down for a nap (just the youngest ones) and went back downstairs. After a little while the normal crying got worse and I could tell it was Tyler. His cry is a little higher pitched than Brody's. Since it was increasingly alarming I went upstairs to check on him. He was sitting up in his crib with his blanket over his head crying his little lungs out. He looked like a little ghostie. It was so sad and cute all at the same time. Somehow he got his blanket over his head and he wasn't able to pull it off. Luckily these are very thin muslin blankets that we use in the summertime so he was able to breathe just fine. It just scared him.

Speaking of scary things...Brody has developed a fear of any toy that moves on its own and looks like an animal or person. We have a bath toy that's a seal and his flippers move if you wind him up. He's TERRIFIED of this toy so we have to remember to remove it completely from the tub at bathtime or else it's a recipe for a complete and utter meltdown. Hunter likes it when he bathes so we still have it around for him. We also have a few other wind-up toys that do jumps and flips and the like and even if they aren't wound up and moving he will look at those toys wide-eyed and then crawl far far away whenever he stumbles upon them. He's our little sensitive guy.

Poison control

Tyler and Brody got into Hunter's Flintstone vitamins yesterday. They were covered from head to toe in red dye. They had half-eaten at least 12 of them. I didn't completely panic until I read the bottle. It said, "Keep out of reach of children. Overdose of iron is the leading cause of infant death. Contact poison control immediately." So I did. They turned out to be just fine but I am sooo embarrassed to say that this is the second time in a week that I've had to contact poison control. The other time was about a week ago when Tyler got a hold of the sunscreen spray bottle and was sucking on the nozzle. Once again, I wasn't too concerned until I read the label with many warnings against this sort of behavior. For the record, I never had to contact poison control when I had only one baby (Hunter). These guys get into EVERYTHING!!

Today at the grocery store Hunter made me laugh out loud and almost pee my pants. We usually give Tyler and Brody some kind of a toy to hold onto while we are shopping to keep them busy. This time Tyler had what we call "goo." It's this gel-like gooey stuff that's safely encased in plastic (that you can open to get to the goo but they're too little to do so at this point). Anyway, we were walking through the aisles when I noticed that Tyler didn't have his toy anymore. I relayed this information to Hunter and he suddenly got frantic that his toy was missing. We started re-tracing our steps and on the way he turned to a random lady and franticly wide-eyed said, "Have you seen any goo in the store?!" I think I may be one of few people who think that this is HYSTERICAL because when I've re-told this story only one or two people reacted the way that I did. I think it was just HOW he said it that was so funny. He was so serious and matter-of-fact about it. I'll never forget it! We never did find the goo.

Both "babies" have two bottom center teeth now and are sleeping through the night again (THANK THE LORD!). They currently both have a summer cold. Such a bummer.

Hunter's vocabulary astonishes me sometimes. The other day he was downstairs with Uncle Mark playing a game and he knew that we had somewhere to go soon. He heard me coming down the stairs and said, "I presume you are going to say that we have to go now." What? Presume?! Does he know that he's five? Then tonight we were coming home from a fun but exhausting day at a water park and I said to him, "I don't know about you but I'm bushed!" He replied, "I'm bushed and my dogs are barkin'!" My final story for the night...Tonight I had to clip his nails (his most hated thing EVER) and afterward I told him, "The good news is that now they're short and we don't have to clip them for a while." His response: "I'm dubious about that!"

Brody's first tooth

Last night Brody finally cut his first tooth and he wanted to make sure the whole house knew about this momentous occasion. In other words, he was up crying ALL NIGHT. Sleepless nights are the hardest part of parenting for me. I am WAY too crabby when I don't get my sleep. I feel bad for the poor little guy though. He is in some serious pain. Hopefully the first is the worst and the rest won't be so bad. One can dream, right?

Brody has been playing peek-a-boo lately by covering his eyes with his hands anytime he hears the phrase "peek-a-boo!" He has a toy that says it and he even does it then. It's adorable!

Hunter filled his "pom-pon jar" (reward jar) so he was able to pick a fun place to go. He chose "Altius Gymnastics." We attended his best preschool friend's birthday party there in May (Hailey) and he LOVED it. He has been asking to go there ever since. Since they do not have open gym we couldn't just go whenever we wanted to. They host a "parent's night out" though where you drop off your kids from 6-10 p.m. and they organize all kinds of fun things for the kids (bucket rides, trampoline time, obstacle courses, etc.). It was our first time leaving Hunter somewhere for that long unsupervised by us. We were a little concerned that he would feel lonely because he didn't know anyone else there but he had a blast! He was talking about all these games he played with the other kids called "octopus tag, hospital tag, and mountain tag." Evidently it was a hit. He stayed the entire time too. I thought for sure we would be getting a phone call to come and get him early since 10 p.m. is several hours past his bedtime. His eyes were all red when we picked him up and he yawned the whole way home. Our "parent night out" was a parent night in but that's okay. We had a nice time together regardless.

Tyler walking!

Tyler is officially walking! Two days ago (August 9th) he took seven or eight steps in a row toward John, who was standing a few feet away holding his hands out and coaxing him toward him while moving slowly backward. It was an awesome moment and one that we will all cherish. Hunter was there too and both were calling to me from the living room (I was in the kitchen cooking dinner) to come and see, "He's walking! He's walking!" It was such a BIG moment for our little guy. He looked really proud of himself. Both boys will walk around if you hold onto their hands but this was hands-free! He was soooooo slow and deliberate about it (of course!) which made it all the more cuter!!

He's getting his second tooth now too. Brody still has none.

I mentioned in my post last time that Tyler turns everything into a phone but I should mention that Brody does now as well. All you have to say is, "Hello? Is anyone there?" and both boys will put whatever they are holding up to their ear. Brody has taken this even further lately by "dialing" the item and babbling what sounds like a question. So cute!

Both boys like to blow raspberries on my shoulder while I'm holding them if I'm wearing a sleeveless shirt. It's sooooo funny! We got Tyler doing it on video yesterday. If I can get both of them doing it at once maybe I'll send it into America's Funniest Home Videos. You never know!!

On a different topic, the other day we were driving around and I looked in our rear-view mirror to see Brody with his foot up near his ear. I laughed and Hunter turned around to see him also. He mused, "Hmmm...Brody's doin' yoga!" This was way too funny to have it not documented. I want to remember that one for a long time.

Bleach

I've been wanting to post this story for at least a week now and I'm finally getting around to it now. One night (about a week ago) John started to brush Hunter's teeth before tucking him in and Hunter immediately protested saying, "YUCK! Dad, that tastes TERRIBLE!" John inspected the toothbrush and thought maybe some soap from the dispenser in the bathroom dropped onto it so he went and rinsed it off really well and tried again. Their conversation went something like this:
John: "Is that better?"
Hunter: "Yeah! I think it was the bleach."
John: "Bleach? What bleach?"
Hunter: "This morning I used the bleach pen on the bathroom floor. I read the instructions and it said to use a brush. I didn't have a brush. So I used my toothbrush!"
Ewwwww!!!
Needless to say we got him a new toothbrush. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with organic this and natural that. I do have boys afterall!! John had to relay this story to me by starting with, "He is SO your son! What five-year-old decides out of nowhere that he needs to scrub the bathroom floor UNASKED and doesn't tell a soul about it?" Okay, I'll admit that a little of me is rubbing off on him.

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!