Two Little Monkeys!

Here are a few pictures that describe my day today:

I left the room for 5 minutes to get a new outfit for Patrick and he has pulled over 20 wipes out of the diaper wipes package! He was so proud of himself. I wasn't too happy but I was happy that he was feeling better than the last couple days before.

Yesterday Payden learned how to pull himself up on his feet and has been pulling up to every available surface. Today his favorite was the dog kennel.

Today also was his first time pulling up to his crib. We DEFINITELY need to lower the mattress down. Don't let that face deceive you, he has been happy today, just not happy that I wanted to take a picture of an accomplishment first before getting him up from a nap.

Very Belated Christmas Recap - Part II

Now for Christmas!

On Christmas, the boys woke at 6:45 after only being up once in the night. We decided to put them in the empty room across from us and it worked out better when they were IN the room with us. Back to Christmas morning. We get the boys fed and dressed and start feeding them Breakfast. Then we realize that we needed more time as his siblings are coming at 7:30 to start unwrapping presents. We ended up starting at 8, but that's okay. Good way to learn patience, I guess!

I'm glad that Patrick and Payden got to unwrap gifts on Christmas Eve because they were very tired and fussy on Christmas Day. They seemed fine to play with their old and new toys while we unwrapped for them.

Here are a quite a few pictures from the day. Again, picture credit goes to my incredible, talented sister-in-law Lindsay. Don't mind the pajamas and the hair, I don't think I showered until almost 3 in the afternoon..

"Why or why are we doing this?"

Ooh, these bows are interesting, I wonder what they taste like"

"And now we're getting tired, Are we done with pictures yet?" - said by Patrick.


And some more!

Payden playing but also tired.

Grandma playing with a tired Patrick
Mom and Payden reading stories

Payden sitting with Daddy. One of my favorites!

When his siblings had gone home, later in the afternoon the boys were a little happier and explored all their new toys. As we were playing, we were shocked to see Patrick up and on all fours rocking. We cheered him on and knew it wouldn't be long!

We woke the next morning and went to church. His parents are now part of our old ward (when we lived in Kansas 4 years ago) and it was fun to see some old faces and talk to people. Early that afternoon, we made the drive home to start organizing gifts and getting ready for the workday the next day.

12 month post! (1 Year!)

Here are this month's stats for our two boys.

Patrick:
Weight: 20lbs 15oz (weighed 2/17)-
Height: 30.5 in
Head: 19 in

Payden:
Weight: 18lbs on the dot (weighed 1/25)
Height: 29 in
Head: 19.25 in

Patrick

• Started crawling the day before his birthday. It was at church and he saw the double doors and took off. From there, he has crawled everywhere and has been into everything. It seems like he'd rather be pulling books and DVD's off the shelves instead of playing with the toys I've laid out. His favorite is the refrigerator which he'll move his arms in joy and "book it" across the floor in anticipation of playing in. Thank goodness he hasn't learned to open it yet!
• Last Wednesday, while Maddie was in her kennel for a time out, she got out and I couldn't figure it out. I put her back in and watched from a distance with surprise as Patrick unlocked the kennel door and let Maddie out. Maddie has found a new best friend!!
  
• Another favorite of Patrick is drawers and loves to open and close them. He also likes to throw toys in, and them open the drawer and find the toy again. Thankfully, fingers have only been left in a few times; I think he's learning!
  
• Says Da Da and knows what it means and can also wave Bye bye.
• We love that he'll try a new food at least once.
  

Payden

• Has been crawling for the past month but usually he falls down and army-crawls. Now (about a week or so before his Birthday) it is a full-fledged and very fast paced crawler. Watch out when he sees that TV Remote! He'll shoots across the floor after it!
• Unlike Patrick, he is content playing with the toys that are set out. Many times, he's has a book in his lap, turning pages as he reads the book.
  
• About a week ago, he pulled up to standing all by himself and now is no longer content to be on his knees. He has to be standing! He can walk along the couch pretty well too! It is so much fun to see these guys learning new things.
  
• Loves banana and banana bread. I have been trying new things all the time trying to find something else that he'll eat just as well.
  
• He is showing so much personality. It is the cutest thing when Christian comes home from work to watch Payden shoot across the floor to be picked up by his Daddy.
• This week, he has taken to holding his bottle by himself and would rather feed himself than let you hold it.

Both Patrick and Payden love books and it is one of the easiest ways to calm them down. Christian and I have memorized a few books (from reading them so much) and it's nice to be able to quote a book and have them calm down. Singing also works pretty well that way in the same respect. They are starting to follow me when I go in the kitchen to prepare food but luckily they haven't figured out the stairs quite yet. I have a feeling we've only hit the tip of the iceberg so far when it comes to exploring!

Happy Birthday Patrick and Payden!!

Happy Birthday Patrick and Payden! *

Dear my two boys,

This day is the one year anniversary of your birthday; the day you came into the world. We, your parents, have been waiting so long for this day to come. We had been married 6 1/2 years when you finally made your entrance.

We love you so much and now can't imagine our life without the TWO of you to share it with. Yes, now that your crawling and exploring everything, life has gotten especially tough for Mom all day. Carrying you both up and down stairs used to be easy but now it's an exercise in weight lifting and tuning your mother's biceps. As you've gotten older, it's allowed us to see your personalities more and more.

Payden, we love how you dance to any and all music. Once you stand up to any surface, you just start dancing and moving your body. We laugh so much at the joy it brings us. We love your abundance of hair and know that we probably should look into getting a hair cut before another person asks if you are a little girl. You love to smile and also crawl as fast as you possibly can to get your dad when he comes in the door from work. You are a lover of everything banana and as such, it is hard to get you to eat anything else!!

Patrick, since you started crawling the Sunday before your birthday. You've been into everything! Forget the toys, you love drawers of any kind to open and close them. Unfortunately, the most fun for you is to empty that drawer of its contents! You absolutely love dad's DVD shelf and love to take them off; much to dad's chagrin. On Saturday, you discovered goldfish crackers for the first time and love them. We love that you always try a new food once and love to eat! Your hair is finally started to grow in and it's a bit curly in the back. You are definitely one determined little boy and won't stop until you figure out something new!

We love you so much,

Mom

* - My 12 month (1 year) post will be posted later as we're waiting on a re-weigh for Patrick when we take them for shots this week.

Very Belated Christmas Recap - Part I

Well, I wasn't going to blog about Christmas because for Christian and I, it was a very hectic time with overtired, off-schedule babies. We were stressed, trying to keep them happy and playing after short naps. A good friend though, suggested to write about the happy times and maybe I would remember it differently. This is my attempt to do so. Due to the craziness of it, I didn't take any pictures.

All the pictures are with credit to my awesome sister-in-law, Lindsay. I envy her skills with a camera.

Christmas Eve!
We celebrated Christmas with my husband's family who live about 45 minutes east of us. We arrive around noon to help prepare for the big feast. Christian's family always does Italian food for Christmas Eve dinner. His mom's grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Italy in the 20's. Dinner was a scrumptious affair although because the boys needed attention, I didn't get as much as I wanted. Yay for leftovers!

Here is a group shot of everyone on Christmas Eve Dinner.

From Left and going around: Lindsay (Christian's sister) and her husband Andy, Bill - Jimmy's Dad, Christian - holding Patrick, Me - holding Payden, Christian's Dad, Christian's Mom. Joanie - Andy's Mom, Carol - Jimmy's mom, Jimmy -Brooke's husband, Brooke - Christian's sister.

Before dinner, we helped the boys unwrap some gifts. They had quite the pile of gifts and we knew it would be more fun to drag it out a couple days. The boys had no interest in the wrapping paper but sure loved their gifts.




One of their favorites is this toy. It is so fun to watch their little minds work and they play with the colored beads.. I also remember it being one of my favorite toys in our doctor's office growing up. I think it was a lot bigger though.


And here are four more pictures from Christmas Eve..

One Year Ago Today

One Year Ago Today -

• I had almost given up hope of going into labor by myself before my scheduled C-Section. I was still so dumbfounded that I had lasted to 38 weeks with these kiddos inside of me. I was so sure I was going to go into labor sooner.
  
• I was so excited to become a parent and so wanting to meet my little ones especially after suffering so much morning sickness and acid reflux/heartburn my entire pregnancy.
  
• Christian and I went out for our last "couples only" dinner to Cheesecake Factory. It was so good. I didn't care if I had heartburn, I loved it so much. We met another couple with 8 month old twins and talked to them for a bit.
  
• I had no idea what my life was going to be like with two almost mobile little children
  

When we went to bed at 11pm that night, I didn't know that at 2:30 my water would break and the boys would be born a short 2 hours later. How quickly our lives were going to change!

RTT

RTT stands for Random Thoughts Thursday.

My sister-in-law Emma started this on her Blog and I think it is a great idea. You can see her blog here.

• We got 8+ inches of new snow yesterday. It started snowing yesterday around noon and kept snowing until early this morning. Since being in Washington, it's hard to get used to this much snow again let alone driving around in it. And to think, two added precious lives are now at stake. I think I'll stay at home.
  

• Ever tried to get a pug to go outside in the snow? Yeah, not going to happen! Pugs are notoriously wimpy and hate the cold. Nevertheless in the height of our storm yesterday, I was dragging Maddie around the in the snow, trying to get her to do her business. Not fun and also very cold!
  

• Payden cracked me up this morning. They were playing in different parts of the living room. Payden watched as Patrick was playing with their cell phone toy. All of a sudden, Payden starts crawling across the room to get to Patrick, tackles Patrick and throws him to the ground. All, to get his cell phone toy. It's not his, just that he plays with this toy the most. Patrick just laid there crying and doesn't retaliate just yet. I gave the phone back to Patrick and distracted Payden with another toy.

• Because they are starting to pull up to their knees and probably soon their feet, there has been a lot of bumps lately. Mostly bumps on their heads as they explore and go after toys. Patrick's new favorite is to open his drawer and empty it of all the contents.
  

• The boys got a new activity table for Christmas. It has been the absolutely favorite toy lately. After Payden has his bottle, he will crawl over to it and start playing. It also is just the right height that they have to pull up to their knees in order to play. One time yesterday, I found Payden on his feet. He has done it a couple times but I've never seen how he does it.
  

You can see a couple pictures of them playing here...