Monday Update

We are almost literally up to our armpits in boxes, so I haven't had time to post. Also, I took a really cute video of L stacking his tower last week, but the file is too big to upload. I've been trying to figure out how to change the resolution to get it to fit, but no luck yet. I'll try again some other time. If anyone knows how to get a video to fit blogger's 100mb limit, let me know (my file is 430mb).

The boys have been doing good. I finished my last day at work on Friday and my mom is now here to help us with packing. We pull out of town on Friday, but I'm still in complete and total denial about leaving. If I think about it, it makes me angry, and I've been trying really hard for the last 4 months to not think about it. I know this is a good opportunity for Greg, but quite frankly, it sucks for me. I do believe in my heart that this will be a good move for the boys in the long run. Colorado is a beautiful state and there are a lot of opportunities for them there that we don't really have here. I've moved my whole life and I've never really disliked any place that I've lived (including Beaumont), so this move shouldn't be any different. But forgive me for not being thrilled about it.

R and L say new things every day. I wish that I had a way to keep track of their new words, but they happen so quickly and subtly, that we can't keep up with them. Some of the words include apple, door, down and go. There are more, but I can't remember them right now.

Today, the boys spent the day with Tim and Stephanie so we could have a whole day of packing. I think that they everyone had a great time, but Tim and Steph seemed pretty worn out when we picked the boys up. We are going to miss them so much. But fortunately, Steph is from Colorado and they plan on moving back in the next couple of years.



Here is L stacking his tower. This is what I took a good video of, hopefully you can see it in the future.





Both of the boys love Tim. They had a great time with him this night reading their bedtime story.

I've taken some more pictures that I'd like to post, but Greg packed my camera cord in a box. He thinks he knows which box, so once it is found I'll post some more.

I'll close with a picture of L making ice cream at the wonderful going away party that Tim and Steph gave us last week. Tim got an ice cream maker for Christmas that you roll around on the floor. R and L and the other 2 kids there had a blast chasing it around. It made great ice cream, too!

Watch Out He Bites!

This is what L did to his brother last night!

R had a tough day yesterday and was very whiny and weepy when we got home from Cindi's. I heard him crying, but I ignored him at first because he had, quite honestly, been crying non-stop. But when I went to check on him, I saw this massive indentation of teeth on his wrist with L standing next to him looking innocent. I later caught him trying to bite R on the chest and his cheek. I gave him a warning the first time and put him in his bed for a time-out after the cheek incident. He didn't bother him after that, so hopefully that will work. R wasn't really bothering him, just standing in the vicinity of the same toy that L was playing with.



Poor R. Despite being really sensitive emotionally, he's a tough guy and got over it pretty quickly. Greg told him he needs to learn to whop L on his head when he does that. I'm not really sure that is a good solution.

Thank You!!!

I apologize to all of our family members for not doing Thank You notes this year for Christmas gifts. So, the boys and I would like to thank you now (as they are showing off some of the presents in the picture above).

Nana and Grandad - Thank you so much for the awesome chairs for the boys. The ones that Nana made are so special and will be treasured always. They cute little adult-like chairs are also great and the boys can't wait to use them when we move. Thank you also for the great toys (shown above), puzzles and clothes. R and L had a fabulous time in your most fun house. Thank you also for keeping them a few days longer while Greg and I went home to pack.

Grandma and Grandpa - Thank you so much for the Stride Rite giftcards. As you saw in the previous post, the boys used part of it this weekend. They also love their new PJs (shown above) and they will come in handy during those oh so incredibly cold Colorado nights. The boys also love their new storytime book. As you know, they both love to read.

Aunt Conny, Uncle Todd, Jacob and Olivia - Thank you for the awesome clothes that include the matching hats, mittens and socks from Gymboree. R and L have both worn them several times. Thank you also for the great alphabet toy. R and L also always appreciate the contribution that Jacob gives to their wardrobe. Without Jake, they wouldn't have such a varied closet.

Uncle Kent and Aunt Tara - Thank you for the great animal finger puppets. Aunt Tara, the boys can't wait to wear the sweaters that you're knitting for them!!! Also, thank you so very, very much for the membership to the Denver Zoo. I can't wait to take the boys all of the time!

Uncle Jonny and Aunt Jenny - Thank you for the great books (I've already read the Brainy Baby series to them at least several dozen times) and the Stride Rite gift cards. Now R and L can get summer shoes, too.

G-Nanny and Mr. G - Thank you for the great bath robes. R and L love running around in them after their baths!!!

Aunt Jodi and Uncle Rickey - Thank you for the socks, they are always in need.




"Thank you", says L.



R thinks everyone is so nice for getting him and his brother such great Christmas gifts!!

As for me and Greg - Thank you everyone for thinking of us. We really appreciate every one's generosity and thoughtfulness!

Sick Boys and New Shoes

Well, both boys are now sick. They each have a cold and L has a double ear infection, as well. R has been drooling like crazy. We haven't seen him do this since he had that thing stuck in his vocal cords. I think he is teething, because one of those real sharp teeth in the middle just popped through and the other 3 are close. We stayed home yesterday and they slept quite a bit. R had a fever after one nap, but he's been ok since. Today, they were ready to get out of the house, so we took them to the mall. They got StrideRite gift cards for Christmas from their uncle in aunt and Denver and their Grandma and Grandpa. Their current tennis shoes are a full size too small.

R completely lost it when we took him out of the stroller to get his foot measured. As soon as I let him go he made a bee line to the door and almost ran out into the mall with only his socks on. R's new shoes are a 6 1/2 W. Neither boy usually has an issue with strangers. R in particular loves to put on a show when people smile at him. But I think he just didn't feel good today and was tired.

L did much better with the measuring. He wasn't too sure about what was going on, but he was at least cooperative. As soon as we put the new shoes on him, he stomped around the store and loved them. His new shoe size is a 6 1/2 XW. Because of their wide feet, we have to get them nice shoes. Fortunately, they were on sale. I was going to get the same shoe in 2 different colors, so we can quickly tell who's shoe is who. But only one color was on sale. However, for half the price, they can get the same exact shoe and I'll check the tag before putting them on. Now we have enough left on the giftcards to get them shoes for the summer.

The boys are now finally eating of plates. I've been putting their food directly on their tray or on their place mats when we eat out since the beginning. I know that they would have been thrown on the floor if I had given them plates much earlier than now. So far, they are doing good, plates have been picked up off the tray, but not thrown on the floor. We're still working on utensils. They are given a fork, but they use their hands more often.

Below are some random pictures I took today of the boys playing.

L giving his brother a kiss.

Nice view of L in his tunnel. In his defense, he does not fill the whole thing up, he was partially standing in this picture.

New this week:

L helped me put their dirty clothes in the laundry hamper tonight. He loves to help out and he loves being asked to do things. He's a big show off, anyways, so I plan to use this as much as possible to get him to help me get things done. He did a really good job of putting everything individually into the basket and he made sure that each piece was all the way in. He wouldn't let any part of a shirt or pants to hang over the side (like me).

I almost got R to help me clean up toys tonight. He started putting them in the bucket, but when I went to another part of the room, he had proceeded to dump all of the toys back out. I know he understands, but he's rather lazy and difficult to motivate. But he is also so sweet and loving.

We have some serious packing to do. We didn't get any done this weekend. It is really hard to work on it with the boys here. But we should've taken advantage of the nice weather to work in the garage and attic. It was in the 70s here this weekend. Fortunately, Aunt Conny had just given us a bag of Jacob's clothes and we had some short sleeve shirts for the boys to wear. I hadn't planned on them having to wear anything but long-sleeved until we at least moved to Denver (it is January after all, even in Texas). My mom will be coming sometime soon to help me pack the kitchen and breakable items up, I'm hoping that she won't be too disappointed in the lack of progress we've made. It will all get done in the end, it has to because the new people are moving in 2 days after we plan to move out.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas! The boys had a great time in Lubbock with their Nana, Grandad, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. We left the Saturday before Christmas with 2 boys and 3 cats. We thought it would be better to take the cats to stay at G-Nanny's house until we move to Denver. Greg couldn't contemplate taking them, the boys and all of our stuff at the same time up to Denver when we move. We'll pick the cats up from Lubbock in early Feb. when we get back from our cruise (Greg's sales meeting) and pick the boys up from Nana and Grandad's house. We all had a great time in Lubbock, except that Uncle Kent gave everybody his cold for Christmas, which we are still getting over. My mom calls it his gift that keeps on giving.



Nana made the boys rocking chairs for Christmas that have pictures of them, family and their favorite things from the first year of their lives. They love looking at all of the pictures, especially L, I often see him sitting on the floor next to his chair pointing out the pictures of people.




We got R a laptop for Christmas. He loves buttons and anything electronic, so now he has his own computer to play with, instead of Greg's.



L loves to vacuum and loves to watch me do so as well. So he got his own for Christmas. My mom said that while she was vacuuming at her house, L went and got his and followed her around.



This is L's best friend, Mr. G. He is G-Nanny's new husband and L just loves him. He immediately wants to be held by him every time he sees him.



Both boys had a great time with their Uncle Kent and Aunt Tara. They were so excited to move near them in Denver, but now they might be moving to Singapore. We'll have to visit! L loved playing with his "Ka-Ka" (which he called Kent). L is fearless, and Kent loved to swing him around and rough-house with him. R is more cautious, but he had fun playing with him, too.



We made our usual stop at Cracker Barrel on our way to Lubbock. Whenever we stop and have to wait for a table, R goes straight to the box of cars on the floor. It has become $7 more expensive to eat at Cracker Barrel since we bought R his 3rd car from there (if not he breaks down and cries when we put the car back - we're going to put a stop to that). L liked this red cowboy hat here, but fortunately wasn't so attached to it that we had to buy it.



R loved hanging out with his Grandad. Grandad was supposed to be trying to get R to take a nap in this picture, but it apparently it went the other way around.



R looks like such a big boy in this picture walking around Aunt Conny's new house. They don't really look like babies anymore, more like little boys.



Ms. Cindi gave the boys a super cool tunnel for Christmas. They love to crawl through it, sit in it and chase it each around it.



L loves to eat Nana's spaghetti and it shows all over his face! I think he gained a little of his chunkiness back while staying with his Nana. It must have been the sausages for breakfast.

New things:

Greg told me that he was quietly watching the boys play the other day and he saw L divert R from what he was doing. Apparently, L was playing at his bead table and R came over and L didn't want to share. So instead of pushing or screaming, he calmly and gently guided R to another part of the room. He stood behind him and walked him to the puzzles and sat him down next to them. R proceeded to play with the puzzles and L went back to his table and had it all to himself.




I leave you with this picture. Everyday, L puts these 2 pieces (a boxcar and coal car) from his transportation puzzle inside the seat of his bus. Every night, I take them out and put them back in the puzzle and stack the puzzles back up in the shelf with this particular puzzle at the very bottom. Each day, L lifts the other puzzles up, without disturbing their pieces, picks these 2 puzzle pieces up and puts them back in his bus. I don't really know what it means, but it is a fun little game to play with him everyday.

There are more Christmas pictures to look at if you are interested on Shutterfly: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaNnLVs2bMmLDlg&emid=sharshar&linkid=link2