Couch Diving

Mr. Nick has had his first trip to the ER this last weekend. Seems that couch diving is not his sport. They were playing on the couch Saturday morning when there was a loud thud. Nicholas had hit his head on the end table and ended up with a pretty good cut, enough for Daddy to take him to the Emergency Room. We really hadn't taken into account how convenient it is to have a hospital within 5 minutes until we had these guys. He ended up with 4 staples and was a trooper for the whole thing.

Much to my surprise

They actually did this themselves. I heard a little scuffling coming from the other room and peaked around the corner and they were sitting together watching TV and stayed together for a while. There has been some brotherly love going on lately. It seems as though they have realized they can actually play with each other instead of fighting over everything. Nicholas seems to be the boss lately but that can change pretty quick.

Two cheesy boys

Now when you say cheese, they do their picture pose. They LOVED playing in the snow yesterday. It was quite funny when they got up, since when they went to bed the snow was coming down but who knew it was going to pile up outside AND you could play in it!!

Escapee

Are you kidding me...... I have a crib jumper on my hands! Matthew, of course it is him, has made it out of the crib. We knew it was a matter of weeks but did not think it would be this soon. Yesterday for nap he hopped out of his crib and into Nicks, then proceeded to hop out and collect all the toys and stuffed animals in the room and fill Nicks crib with them, to the TOP. I have to admit it was comical but where do we go from here? We are not ready for them to have total freedom never mind giving up naps. Today is the same story. No sooner did I close the door Matt was out of his crib and into Nicks. I thought I would try something new, so I went back in and quietly tucked them both into Nicks crib hoping that they may just want to snuggle up. No such luck! As I type this total mayhem is taking place upstairs. Off to see what I find today, wish me luck as I need it right now.

Already October!

Things have been good. The boys are just talking and talking and talking and talking, you get the picture. We have recently been for their 2 year check up, a little late of course, and they are right on track. Nicholas is still the taller and thinner one 29 1/2 lbs and 39 inches, while Matthew is still just a couple inches behind but has a couple of pounds on him 31 lbs and 37 1/2 inches. We have recently moved on from the highchairs as it was getting near impossible to stuff them in there anymore because they are so strong so its onto booster seats. This has brought on it's own challenges because now they will not stay seated for more than 10 seconds. Food has become low on the priority list because they are just so interested in everything.

Nicholas is learning his colors and letters and LOVES music. He dances and sings whenever the mood catches him, music or not. Matthew is quite the little helper, wants to feed the dog, the cat, and help me cook. He is also the aerialist of the two. There was one day recently when he managed to get out of his "special suit" for nap time, jumped his crib over to his brothers and launched his naked self into Nicholas' bed while Nick was sleeping. He was so very proud of himself when I went up there to see what was going on.

Sometimes you can't help but laugh at some of the crazy things they do.

Dear World .....

Dear World,

My son starts school today. It's going to be strange and new to him for a while. And I wish you would sort of treat him gently.

You see, up to now, he's been king of the roost. He's been boss of the back yard. I have always been around to repair his wounds, and to soothe his feelings.

But now - things are going to be different.

This morning, he's going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand and start on his great adventure that will probably include wars and tragedy and sorrow.

To live his life in the world he has to live in will require faith and love and courage.

So, World, I wish you would sort of take him by his young hand and teach him the things he will have to know. Teach him - but gently, if you can. Teach him for every scoundrel there is a hero; that for every crooked politician there is a dedicated leader; that for every enemy there is a friend. Teach him the wonders of books.

Give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on the green hill. Teach him it is far more honorable to fail than cheat.

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone else tells him they are wrong. Teach him to sell his brawn and brains to the highest bidder, but never to put a price on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob ... and to stand and fight if he thinks he's right.

Teach him gently, World, but don't coddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

This is a big order, World, but see what you can do. He's such a nice little fellow

-Author Unknown

The trash can is complete again

Big News, the pedal has been put back on the trash can! This is quite an achievement as Matthew had taken to stomping on the pedal, like you would on a bass drum, so the we had to remove it. It was fun watching people try to figure out how to throw something out and it did slow Matthew down for a little while until he figured out how to get it open with his hands, of course. So for those if you who spend time at our house this is good news, for those of you who do not I hope you found the story amusing.

Happy 2nd Birthday Boys!

And what a day it was. We started with cake for breakfast, then off to Southwick's Zoo where the boys were really enjoying the animals and were able to name quite a few. There we had our picnic lunch, played in the playground and chased the baby goats. I think we will be spending a lot more time at the zoo from here on. They had such a good time they were asleep less than a mile down the street on the way home.
We can't believe they are already two. Just last year at this time there were just walking, now they are running! This morning when we woke them up and we said Happy Birthday the first thing Nick said was "cake", that's my boy. They are talking non-stop now. Not necessarily saying things the correct way, they both think that truck begins with an "f" and "more please" and "puppies" sounds exactly the same. Sometimes I can translate, other times I am not sure what they are saying. They can put away their toys and shoes, get themselves undressed, and know how to push all of our buttons. Matthew is still in his special pajamas and Nicholas has a great fake laugh.
We love you very much boys and look forward to what this year has to bring, Happy Birthday!

Go puppy, go!

First time down the slide - puppy needed to check it out first

Trying out the jungle gym

Clubhouse

Family Vacation

We have successfully made it on another family adventure, to Virginia this year. We chose to drive as I could not imagine flying with these two little ones right now. The 8 hours mapped, 12 hours planned turned into 14 hours to get there but for all good reasons. We took our time and stopped a lot to run around and of course snack breaks. The boys were FANTASTIC for the whole ride. I had a couple tricks up my sleeve to keep them busy and I think they liked to have mom and dad as a captive audience. Once we were there it was business as usual because we try to stick to our schedule as this seems to keep us all happy. We visited the local children's museum, the waterpark and of course the playground. The boys had the opportunity to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa while Chris and I got to get out and explore. All in all a great family trip, who knows where we will end up next year.

Customizing jammies

So today we had an unexpected experience. Over the last couple of days Mr. Matthew has decided that he does not want to wear his diaper. This becomes a problem when I put him upstairs for a nap as he is left alone and makes quite a mess. We have tried changing him out of his clothes and into a onsie, he accepted that as a challenge and in a matter of days had that unsnapped and the diaper came off. This leaves him sleeping in his "birthday suit" and he has been woken up to a not too pleasant shower. So we moved onto changing him into pj's, these are the zip up kind with the snap at the top. Well he accepted that challenge today and showed me up. As I was getting his brother down for a nap he showed me how he could just unsnap that silly snap and unzip his jammies. Not Good!!! I had to resort to a trick that was shared by another unruly childs mom - put them on backwards. So I did. he was not pleased but did wake up nice and dry today :) I can't imagine what he has in store for me next. 

Swing Set - Phase Three

It's almost done! Now to spread all that mulch!

Swing Set - Phase Two

Here are Grandpa and Uncle B working on getting the playhouse
roof installed. Almost there! This was after we spread out the rest of the sand and moved the whole thing into is permanment place. Now to finish the build and install the fence.

Swing Set - Phase One

Daddy & Uncle B trying to figure out if they should follow the written instructions or the diagrams considering the information dosen't match at all!

Thanks Easter Bunny!

Checking out all the loot from the Easter Bunny

The Explosion

When you read about the language explosion that happens they are not kidding! Nicholas is the main talker and really has something to say about everything. Doggy, kitty, shoes (that boy LOVES shoes) mommy, daddy, uncle, papa - for grandpa, cheese, cup, water, puppy, see, blankie, Where are you, go and anything you ask him to repeat. Matthew is taking his time and letting Nick do all the work but has a couple words of his own - puppy, no, stop, mommy, daddy, more, and new words every day. 

Bye Bye Bubbas

So that's it, no more bubbas! As of now they were having one bubba for bedtime and then a couple of nights ago Nicholas decided that he did not want to finish his. This happened for about 3 nights and then we realized that we had only two bottle liners left so this was going to be it. We gave them sippies with milk instead and that's the way it's been since. It's bittersweet, they are really not babies anymore once they no longer have a bottle. We are glad that it wasn't a battle as I hear all kinds of horror stories about giving up the bubba. It's seems like yesterday we were making 18 bottles a day!

Oh there's more

Chris and I had our first night away from the boys.... and what a great time we had. Chris' parents came and spent the night and I am happy to report all four of them survived. I can honestly say I think we were more worried about Grandpa and Grandma than the boys. They can give you a run for your money when you spend 24 hours with them. Chris and I went to Foxwoods, took a limo ride from the hotel to the casino, ate dinner without anyone throwing food at us or picking up sippy cups off of the floor. We had a great time but did miss the little rascals. It was great to be able to get away and will be doing it more often, hopefully soon :)

A recent family photo

a little late.. Happy New Year!

So I haven't kept up with my monthly posts, January must have been a crazy month. Things are just as busy as ever around here. We have now learned what a boo-boo is. We had our first trip to the ER a couple of weeks ago with Matthew. He cut his foot and I couldn't tell if we were going to need stitches so off we went. He was an ANGEL throughout the whole process. No stitches, just a Diego band-aid for a couple of days.