Gonna Get Himself a Scholarship!

All his frustrating practice finally paid off.




This boy. He gets an idea in his head, and then he's like a dog with a bone. He was determined to dribble that ball, just like Mommy & Daddy. And he worked hard until he got it. Honestly, Greg and I are kinda in shock at his overall coordination - how quickly he went from walking to running, his balance, how high and controlled he jumps, and now dribbling.




Obviously we need to get this boy a basketball.



Luke is 22.5 months old.

Monkey Boy

And now here's some Luke lovin'. This is from earlier in the day on Halloween. Luke spent most of the day in his costume.




As for this next one, this is an every day occurrence in our home (minus the monkey suit). You may want to turn down the volume for this one...




Luke is almost 17 months old.

Evil Genius

That's what Greg called Luke this morning when he woke me up from my sleep-in day. I may not go so far as to say "evil", but that boy is definitely crafty.

They are both deeply in love with this toy cell phone, so much so that we keep it hidden most of the time to avoid WWIII. Well, Joseph somehow unearthed it and was happily playing with it in the kitchen when Luke caught sight of it, and all hell broke loose. All I heard was lots of screaming from the shelter of my cozy bed. I'm pretty sure that's when I grabbed Greg's pillow, threw it over my head and fell back to sleep.

Meanwhile Greg tried to diffuse the situation, but all that did was lead to more screaming. Finally he picked up Luke, brought him to the living room and handed him the remote control, another hot item that causes much strife in our house. Luke grabbed it, didn't even play with it, and walked it straight into the kitchen. He had a plan. Sitting himself on the ground next to Joseph, he laid the remote on the floor between them and just waited. Sure enough, Joseph abandoned the cell phone to grab the remote. And that's when Luke got up, took his prize and all was right in the world again.

That was his intention the whole time. He's already hatching plans & strategies to get exactly what he wants. We're scared.

Clever, clever boy. :)



My guys are 14.5 months old.

Chase Me! Chase Me!

Just a quickie because it's too cute not to share.

I was sitting in the rocking chair this morning with both boys giggling and walking in circles around and around me. I'm pretty sure each of them thought they were being chased by the other.

It was pretty stinking adorable.

They looooove being chased, especially since this is what happens once they're caught:



The boys will be 14 months old tomorrow!

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.

Pucker Up

He does this a lot lately.

I am choosing to believe that's his cute way of telling me that he wants a kiss from his mama. And, like any good mama, I oblige.

He finds this hilarious, and it usually leads to many more puckers and many more kisses.

I just threw this one in because it's cute. All those kisses went to his head and apparently brought the crazy out.

I love the crazy.

My boys are one year & 5 days old.

Ok, Not So Cute But Pretty Dang Funny

When he's done, he is D.O.N.E. Hahahaha!!!

One Sleepy Baby

Apologies. I'm getting pretty constant reminders of what a bad blogger I am (Mom!) so just wanted to say sorry about that! It's shameful, I know.

But to make up for it, here's a pretty cute video of Luke about to pass out at dinner.



Poor baby. Their naps have been all messed up lately, trying to drop down to one per day but not quite having the stamina for it yet. Luke has always needed a bit more sleep than Joseph, and today he just could not hang on for a second longer.

I scooped him up, hoping to get him through bath time & changed for bed as quickly as possible.

And, ummm, not so much...


All he was interested in was rolling over onto his belly to get comfy and falling asleep. I managed to get him out of his clothes, changed his diaper and got him into pj's without a single peep. Sweet boy. :)


I have lots more that I've been meaning to post, and I promise to work on those soon. Look for some sneaky back-dated blogs to come. Sorry again for the hiatus. And, FYI, mobility is highly over-rated.


The boys are 11 months & 2 weeks old.

Post-Bath Ritual

Every. Single. Night.




Oh, but he's not done yet. Until there's nothing left, he won't let us put on a diaper or his pj's.





It's a losing battle so we've resigned ourselves to defeat.


The boys are 11 months, 1 week & 4 days old.

Funny Faces

Yes. Yes, they are a handful.



Several, in fact. :)



The boys are 9 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old.

At Least Someone Thinks I'm Funny

Joseph is 9 months, 2 weeks & 5 days old.

Luke Crawls!

Finally! Forward momentum!

Luke just needed the proper motivation. The remote control. Of course.



I love, love, love the jerky, uncoordinated movements and the maniacal laugh. Such joy! We're so proud of him. He's been working on crawling for what seems like, oh, forever. He's been rocking on all fours, scooting himself backward, even rocking & kinda frog-hopping his back legs forward. But until today there was no actual crawling. Yay!

One person, however, is not too thrilled.



Poor baby. Joseph has never really been too fussed about being mobile. Somehow I think this new development may change his mind.

And yikes! Time to do some serious baby-proofing. I've been putting it off in the hopes that my babies would just stop growing so fast. In hindsight, it wasn't the best of plans...


The boys are 9 months, 1 week & 5 days old.

Luke Loves the Curly Ribbon

I shared a video of Joseph's giggle fit last week. Now it's Luke's turn.

We were hanging out in the kitchen, and I was wrapping a birthday present. When I used the scissors to curl the ribbon, this is the reaction I got.



I've never seen him laugh so much or so hard, and I love it!


Luke is 9 months & 1 week old.

Giggle Fit

The boys are 9 months & 1 day old.

Flasher

Note to self: When abruptly interrupting a pumping session to answer the door to strange men, do a bra check!

We are having a couple of solar tubes installed in our living room right now. The boys and I are hanging out in the nursery while the workers are tearing things up. One of the guys knocked on the door to make sure he put on the right filters. Only after I went down there, talked to them, made my choice and got back to the nursery did I realize that half my bra was showing through the neck of my shirt.

Quality.

Just A Swingin'

We emerged from our "arctic freeze" to a beautiful, 67-degree Sunday. And what better way to take advantage than by packing up the boys into their new wagon and going to the park.

They're too little for everything but the baby swings, but man, the giggles make it totally worth it!




In other news, WE HAVE A TOOTH! We were talking to Greg's best friend and his wife via Skype, when Joseph decided to chow down on my finger. I kept feeling something very hard and very sharp. Yep, his lower right incisor has broken through. And without much fuss. Is it naive to hope the others will be this easy?


The boys are 7 months, 1 week & 6 days old.

Konked Out

Luke thinks being an adorable, little baby is e-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-n-g.




He is 7 months and 2 days old.

Should We Be Worried?

Lately the boys have been paying particular attention to anything and everything we've been putting in our mouths, a sure sign they're ready for solids. And we've tried "solids" with them. I'm just not sure how I feel about this much attention being paid to Daddy's favorite adult beverage.




Luke is 4 months, 3 weeks & 6 days old.