He Walks!!

L took his first steps tonight! I know that this is an awful picture, but it was the best I could do considering the circumstances. My camera is very slow and L only can take 2 or 3 steps before collapsing. We are so proud of him. R has almost always been the first to do anything. When they were little babies, it seemed that L was about 1-2 weeks behind anything that R could do. It took L almost 5 months longer than R to just roll over and then it was a good while after R could crawl, that L was finally able to pull himself forward. Of course, he is a big boy and he has had more to work with. But once he gets a task down, he has been able to master it faster than R. I imagine he'll be running before long.

Weekend Update

I put sunglasses on L today expecting him to immediately take them off. Instead, he started crawling to the study with them on to see Greg. He left them on for a long time. If they started to fall down, he would reach up and put them back on his nose and get them on straight.

Tonight was spaghetti night, which is such a mess. We usually only do this on bath night, but that wasn't the case tonight. It took quite a while to get them cleaned up, but they both had a good time.

R and L are now doing "peek-a-boo." They started doing this yesterday at Cindi's. L has done it for us a few times, but we haven't seen R, yet. L is also capable of standing on his own. He is able to do it for longer periods of time everyday. Pretty soon, I think he'll realize that he is doing it and will take off.

Birthday Party Fun

On Sunday, the boys were invited to a birthday party for Ms. Cindi's 2 year old son. It was at a great park in Arlington that I had never heard of before. It's a normal neighborhood park, but it has this really cool splash/fountain area for kids to play in. R and L had a blast. They crawled all over the place and they loved watching all of the other kids play around them. R was the most intrigued by the water. He was very interested in the water jets that came out of the ground. They seem to work based on pressure build up. So there was one time that he was looking down at a jet that was currently not shooting water. As you can guess, it shot water straight into his face. That was our only crying incident (besides when R was done with his birthday cake and wanted more). L also had a good time, but he was more interested in trying to crawl out of the water area and into whatever he could get into. The place definitely calls for 1 person per baby, but hopefully we can go back one weekend before it closes down for the summer.

After the boys had their fun getting wet, they dove into the tub of drinks and ice. They may have had more fun playing with the ice than they did in the fountains. L took out individual pieces of ice and gathered them up one by one on the cooler next to the tub. R just put the ice in his mouth and sucked on it a while before spitting it back into the tub (despite grossing out everyone else at the party).

We all went over to Tim and Stephanie's house after the party for dinner. They are both teachers and are typically gone for the summer. This year they left Seattle at 1 am Saturday and got into Minneapolis at 6 am and then drove 17 hours and got home at 1 am on Sunday. (and then started work on Monday). That is an adventure that is better left for them, I would never do it. But it was great to see them again and we're glad for their safe travel. We will now live vicariously through them since our days of fun vacation travel are on hold for a few years.

Thank Goodness It Is Saturday

Wow, what a week! The boys and I have been busy getting back into our routine of going to Ms. Cindi's and going to school every morning. R and L have adjusted well to being back at Cindi's house. I think that they had 2 days of not napping well, but over all they have done ok. The nice part is that Cindi is now the one having to deal with food throwing 2 out of the 3 meals a day (and she is a much more patient person than I). School has been crazy busy. Between balancing classes, fixing schedules and obnoxius parents, things have been non-stop. Fortunately, this will only last into the first couple of weeks of school and then things quiet down for a little while.


New things this week: R got his foot stuck in the Rocking Horse and it took 3 adults and olive oil to get him out and then later that night, he got his arm stuck in his bed. L has started making a new noise - it is kind of a "ga" sound mixed with a weird tounge/throat thing-we greatly prefer this noise to spitting. L also now is able to point at the Bronco's logo on Greg's shirt (Greg is greatly pleased about this). R now has10 1/2 teeth to L's 8. L started off with more teeth than R up until July, but R now has 2 molars on the right side and is working on one on the left-perhaps this is why he's been so fussy and drooly lately. I don't think that I've mentioned that L gives kisses now. You have to be careful, though, or he might slip you the tounge :(

Greg caught both boys climbing on top of the picnic table today.

This is Texas's tax free weekend, and for some reason, diapers count as clothes and are tax-free. Greg went to Sam's today and stocked us up, the boys thought the boxes were really cool.

This picture is from Friday morning. I put the boys in L's bed while I made my morning mocha before going to work. They can watch me in the kitchen while standing in this location and looking through the door and down the hallway.

R and L stand at the gate into the kitchen every time I go in to make them a meal or snack. They usually scream while I get their food ready and shake the gate to make sure that I know that they are waiting.

Hopefully I'll have an opportunity this week to post some more about the boys, but time is limited during the work week and by the time they get to bed, I start my marathon to get ready for the next day. If I don't post this week, I will next weekend.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Tomorrow, I go back to work and the boys go back to Cindi's. I gathered everything up that we have to take with us in the morning. The picture shows everything that is going: 2 pack and plays with sheets, 2 blankets, 4 pacifiers, 2 extra sets of clothes, 6 bibs, 4 sippy cups, 2 packs of wipes, 1 package of diapers, 2 booster seats, and 2 boys. I'm looking forward to seeing how the boys are tomorrow when they return to Ms. Cindi's house. I'm sure that they will be fine, based on what Cindi has told us in the past, it seems that they act better at her house than at ours. Although, really, they are wonderful for us most of the time. I think that they get bored at home sometimes, especially L. But I've discovered that when he has a fussy day and groans and won't take an afternoon nap, that if I take him somewhere (the pool, Target, out to eat, or the mall) that he acts fine. Greg and I do apologize in advance to Cindi for them no longer being on her great schedule. They have done great this summer on it until the last week or so. We are having a hard time getting L to take a nap in the afternoon and sometimes, R, as well. When this happens, they will scream for hours until we give in and let them out.

We all went back to the mall today for a record of 2 times in 1 week (that would be a record even if it was 2 times in a month). Stride Rite (kid's shoe store) has had a buy one get one half off sale that ended today. When we went in earlier in the week, we had R and L's feet measured. Their wonderful Aunt Conny got them great shoes a few months ago, but we needed her to exchange them for a current size (they didn't wear shoes this summer). It turns out that R wears a 5 1/2 Wide and L wears a 5 1/2 Double Wide. So there goes any hope of buying cute cheap shoes at Target. So any family that might be reading this: the boys would love a Stride Rite gift card for Christmas. Fortunately, their Cousin Jacob also has wide feet and has been kind enough to pass his shoes down to the boys, but that only takes care of one of them.

On a different note, L has started to clap his hands and give us "five." He claps differently from R. He claps with one palm and one fist, like he is getting ready to beat someone up. But at least he is finally doing it.

Day at the Pool

I took R and L to the pool by myself for only the second time today. This is my last week at home with them, and I hope to do this at least once more this week and possibly this weekend with Greg. We had a great time in the tanning ledge area where the boys can basically walk around. We then went into the deeper part of the pool and just lounged for quite a long time. R and L love to watch the older kids play in the pool. In order for me to take them to the pool by myself, I have to load them up into the stroller and put one at a time in their floats. These things have been great. I've seen people with similar ones for babies that look much cooler and more comfortable, but you can't beat these for only $3.99 at ToysRUs. The funny part is trying to take them off when you get out of the pool. When you pick them up, the float sticks to their butt and I have to pull and tug (especially with L) in order the get it off.



L has started to climb the picnic table in the playroom. We heard a crash last night and when I ran in there, I found L in the corner on the floor on the other side of the table (crying). Today I caught him in the act.

Greg and I needed to go the mall tonight (which is something we both hate to do). Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves by going to our new PF Changs. The boys did pretty good, they only threw a few things on the floor. On the way home, L spent his time spitting in his seat. He then managed to get a hold of his 2 big toes (not an easy thing to do for such a big guy) and held his legs up and proceeded to spit all the way back to the house. It is hard not to laugh when he does this, but we also don't want to encourage him, so we spend most of our time hiding our smiles.

Here is our sweet R. He is wearing his monkey PJs, which is quite fitting for him. He did great tonight during our 30 minute wait for a table, but he cannot sit still. We think he is going to be a hard kid to motivate and to get to pay attention, but he is also the sweetest boy. He loves to be held. We've been trying to get the boys to take their last milk in a sippy cup before bed (they do that the rest of the day), but R doesn't want to work that hard to get his milk out at night. Last night, he only had a couple of ounces and then woke up at 11 and we caved in and gave him milk in a bottle. It worked, because R and L slept all the way until 8:45 this morning, a rare and wonderful treat.

Busy Weekend

R and L's Nana and Grandad were here for the weekend. We had a lot of projects to accomplish and most of them were done by the time they left today. Poor Grandad was hoping to come and visit in order to play with the boys, but he spend a good chunk of the weekend helping us get some things done, which is greatly appreciated. My bedroom was painted, curtains were put up in 2 rooms, pictures were hung in R and L's playroom, and the cords hanging down the wall from the TV were finally covered.

We did have fun taking the boys and their grandparents to a German restaurant in Fort Worth on Friday. Both boys discovered that they love schnitzel, L ate enough to feed an entire army of babies. Our server called L juicy and R had his own fan club there with one of the kitchen people, she even ran to the door when we were leaving in order to tell R goodbye.



Last night after the boys had their milk and "Goodnight Moon" read to them, we said it was time to brush teeth. L immediately took off for the bathroom and sat in front of the door and waited for us to get there. We thought it might have been a fluke, but he did the same thing tonight. L dropped his toy and took off for the bathroom as soon as I said "brush teeth." It is funny what they pick up on. We had no idea that he enjoys having his 8 teeth brushed, it usually seems like a battle every night to get him to cooperate.

L is pushing R on their bus in this picture. I think that they are getting closer to walking every day.

Buying Curtains and Painting Bedroom

Today the boys took a trip to Linens and Things. We bought curtains for my bedroom. R and L had a great time playing with the curtains at the store. Mom and I painted my bedroom today. The boys took their nap during most of it. While we were putting the room back together this afternoon, R and L stood outside the closed bedroom door beating on it. They love to bang on closed doors and once the get inside the room, they take great joy in closing the door and shutting you out. Greg and Grandad will both be here tonight. The boys will be so excited to see the both of them. They miss their Daddy when he is gone and they always love to see their silly Grandad.

R and L both love to crawl onto the botton part of the Sofa Table in the hallway. L is in this picture holding onto his new favorite toy-the parrot from one of his puzzles. He holds onto it while he crawls. It is funny to hear the patter of one hand and the clack of the hand with the wooden parrot.

I tried to get a good picture of R today by himself. He is usually very photogenic, but he wasn't really cooperative today, this was the best I could do.

We are "borrowing" a teeter-totter from Nana and Grandad's church. R and L sort of figured out how it works today. They took turns standing up for a short bit in order to get it to rock back in forth. I think it will be a great toy for 2 busy boys to share at home.