An Evening to Myself

All three of my guys were in bed before 7 p.m. tonight. All the kiddos at daycare apparently organized a sleep strike today. (I wonder if that's a regular Monday thing... We'll see.) And Greg is sick!!!

Why the seemingly decadent use of exclamation points? Because Greg never gets sick. At least not enough to make him miss work. In fact in the 8 years he's been working at his current job, he has never once taken a sick day. Is that not insane??? Most normal people would take at least a cheat day every now and then. But not my husband. So when he called this afternoon to say he was coming home, I thought something catastrophic had happened. Somebody died. The lab blew up. Armageddon.

Nope. He's sick. So sick he couldn't even power through the remaining 2.5 hours of the work day. Wow. I had to blog this for posterity's sake.

I'm hoping for a short-lived convalescence. For all our sakes. :) Poor guy.

On a more positive note, Greg spent last night assembling one of the awesome presents a few families got for the boys for their birthdays. It was an instant hit.





I love Luke's little laugh at the end.

Every time we're at a friend's house who has these, the boys go crazy for them whether they're riding or pushing. I'm betting their obsession is what prompted these gifts so I have to say a huge thank you to some very generous friends. You know who you are! They will be well-used at Chez K. :)


The boys are already almost 13 months old. Wow. That sounds weird.


p.s. You're probably thinking in that first video, "OMG, is that Greg in his underwear??? On the interwebz???" And the answer is NO! Absolutely not. Because I love him, and I wouldn't do that to him. And I would appreciate it if you'd get your dirty, little mind out of the gutter, thankyouverymuch.

p.p.s. You totally replayed that video, didn't you?

Breaking in the New Toys

The most fun so far? Knocking down Mama's tower o' blocks!

Joseph is a bit overwhelmed with the selection.
New toys? Or mama's toes? Hmmm...

You know "they" always say that babies end up loving the box more than the toy. In this case, I'd say Luke has to agree.

He was very busy today scaling his own Mt. Everest...

...and making Mama nervous.

Up and down, up and down...

At least with twins, you have one arm for each of them. How in the world do triplet moms cope? I cannot imagine!

And later that evening...

Time for Daddy to tackle the Cozy Coupe

I have a PhD. I can totally do this!

Loosening the Reins

One side effect of the boys' party was the fact that we had to open up the kitchen so our poor guests wouldn't have to climb over baby gates, which of course forced us to finally baby-proof our kitchen. All glass, sharp stuff or anything potentially breakable was relocated to high cabinets, and tupperware is now in the island drawers.

And, let me tell you, it is a whole new world for the boys.

There has been a little more chaos, a lot more noise, and a few smooshed fingers.

But they love it!

Why didn't I do this earlier?

I might actually get some stuff done in the kitchen without having to sneak in there to avoid mad babies pushing and pulling at the gates to get in too.
What a concept!

The rolling pin is Luke's favorite

And here's a short one with the boys talking. Or rather, Luke being bossy to Joseph, who totally ignores him. :) I love how Joseph slaps the ground when he's crawling. Makes me want to cover him in kisses.




The boys are one year, 3 weeks & 2 days old.

It's Not My Fault!

This is the reason my house is always so messy:




I thought babies were supposed to be afraid of these things! Instead, mine are obsessed with them. The vacuum cleaner lives out in the garage because every time it's brought out, the boys come arunnin'. As you can see, negotiating a good cleaning is a bit of a challenge. But it sure makes for a fun time, and how often can you say that about house cleaning? :)

Luke Walks!

I mentioned that Luke took his first unassisted steps while we were at the beach a few weeks ago. Well, he's been busy perfecting his technique since then and LOOK AT HIM NOW!




I'm totally impressed with how quickly he's picked this up & how controlled he seems. Does this mean my baby's now a toddler??? EEEEEK!

The After Party

Just so you don't think we're mean parents, I thought I should include some happy boy pictures.

The guys woke up from their naps to a living room brimming with birthday presents just waiting to be ripped into.

Luke instantly honed in on his two favorite things - balls...

...and wheels.

The boy is obsessed. :)


Joseph helped us read the cards...

...and was just generally adorable.

They busted into each toy with gusto...

...and tested them all out for quality assurance purposes.

But honestly, destroying all those pretty packages was the best.

That and spreading little blue and green food dye stains on all the furniture.

Good times.

Now to find a place for all these awesome new toys. Yikes.

Things to Remember

Baby parties - for future reference.

1. People show up on time.
2. There will be way too much beer left over - buy less or make more fridge space.
3. HEB green chile dip sounds like it'd be delicious, but in fact, it is not.
4. It'd be great if you remember to put out food for babies, as well as mamas & papas.
5. Check the guest bathroom in case, ya know, the mirror was last cleaned with Pledge instead of Windex. And looks absolutely disgusting.
6. Good television reception is essential if hosting parties at the same time as US World Cup games. (Embarrassing. And also the last straw - next week we're getting cable for the first time in 5 years!)
7. If you're doing a smash cake, make sure to start well before naptime or else.

That is all.

Smash Cake Fail

Luke kicked it off, but Joseph took it to a whole new level of awesome.




Heartbreaking, isn't it. Poor babies!

First Birthday Party

Complete with, what else, a World Cup theme!

Packed house with all of the boys' little friends, who are all 1 year old, give or take a few months. All THIRTEEN of them! I didn't know our home could fit this much baby!

See those fingers in mouths? I realize now that the boys were teething, which explains in part how this happy soiree ended.
(A little foreshadowing there for you...)

I'm pretty sure the boys had money riding on this game. He's gonna have to pay you later, D. Mama is trying to set a good example and will not be funding the gambling habit.

Of course, Mama's gotta draw the line of virtue somewhere.


The ball pit was enjoyed by all. Success!

Luke thinks the party is going very well!

Or it was going well.

Until, that is, everyone started singing and staring at them.

And sticking flames in their faces.

And then it was all over.

And there was no going back.

Poor guys. Exhaustion from all the changes with their first week in daycare, teething and just too much partying finally won out. The perfect storm.

We took the boys upstairs for a nap, where they both promptly and quietly passed out. Meanwhile, the party must go on. But not too much longer. Around 4 p.m., the babies started dropping like flies. Naptimes all around! And nothing clears out a party faster than the threat of multiple impending meltdowns. Pretty soon we were left alone. In the quiet. With the aftermath. :)


So I'm calling it. First birthday party SUCCESS! Even if the cake smash portion of the day's festivities was an epic fail. It will make for a great story once the boys are older and can appreciate such trauma for it's entertainment value.

And just in case you're wondering, the boys woke from their naps in a fantastic mood and ready to rip into their presents. More on that later. But in the meantime, I'd like to thank each and every one of you guys who came to help us celebrate the boys' first year. It has been one of the happiest of my life, and without a doubt, THE happiest of theirs. :)

The Ball Pit

Tomorrow is the big day. The very belated celebration of the boys' first birthday. It's going to be awesome! We're expecting about a dozen kiddos and their parents in our relatively small house. It's hotter than hell outside. And we basically threw this shindig together at the last minute. The only well thought out part of this whole deal was the invitations, and our good friend Kristi did that for us. (Thanks, Kristi!!) It should be interesting.

As part of our festivities, we set up a ball pit for all the little ones to jump into and wallow in the joys of 300 little, plastic projectiles. And, naturally, we had to give it a test run first.

Luke quickly made himself cozy...



...while Joseph expressed a deep appreciation for his daddy's mad juggling skillz.



Giggle fits are my favorite.

I may be a little nervous about pulling the whole thing off, but the boys are definitely ready to paaaaartaaaaay!



Wish us luck!


The boys are 1 year & 3 weeks old.

Climber

First of all, GOOD MORNING!!

There's Luke's pucker again :)

The boys start daycare next week so I can finally get back to work on my (stupid) dissertation so I'm trying to soak them up as much as I can, while I can. I don't even want to think about it. Let's talk about something else...

So, on to our day! While Luke did plenty of this...

So. stinking. cute.

...Joseph was working hard at this.

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can...

Oh God. No!

Uh oh.

We've had this storage bin wedged in this corner of the couches since the boys learned to crawl. It's been serving as a barrier to block off a bunch of wires from little, grubby hands. But seeing as how it now serves as an access point, we're going to need to rethink our strategy.

Joseph, so proud of himself for getting to Mommy's computer and video camera

Yeah, we definitely need a new plan.

The boys are 12 months old.

A House Divided

World Cup. England vs. USA. English daddy. American mommy. What IS a boy to do?

We were really torn with this one. At first we were thinking that we'd just flip a coin to decide which of the boys would support the U.S. and which would support England. But ultimately our inability to find a 2T American soccer kit ANYWHERE and our plethora of English soccer gear in the boys' closet meant that even if their spirits were with their birth country, their outward appearance would be screaming, "En-ger-lund! En-ger-lund! En-ger-lund!"

Luke looking absolutely adorable in the 2T England kit we could find

Honestly, they don't care either way. Of course. But isn't it interesting that all the U.S.A. kids' gear was sold out? Yay! Embrace soccer, America. Embrace it. And love it.

English or American, we will all support Daddy

BALL!!!

Joseph can't decide if he'd rather hang out with ladies...

...or use his wily charms to score a sip of beer.

Joseph, embracing his inner frat boy.

Mmmm, soccer balls are delicious ::lick, lick::
(Yes, those cute, little girls had money on the game in case you were wondering.)

Aaaaand TIE! Everyone's happy! Sorta.


Our future soccer stars are 1 year, 1 week & 1 day old. (Writing their age like this is getting a bit annoying. I think from now on, I'll just round to the nearest month, mmkay.)