10 on Tuesday

1. Sunday at the Symphony in the Park, Luke saw a bottle of wine that Erin had brought. He pointed it out to her and adamantly declared, "Mommy drink! Mommy drink!" Ha!

2. After two years of living in denial, I finally cleared out my closet of all the many beautiful shoes that my fat, post-pregnancy feet will no longer fit. ::sob:: These I will miss the most.



3. Joseph has a tendency to add an extra syllable to some words, particularly 'uh' and particularly at the end of words. For instance, when he hears a loud bang he immediately points in it's direction and says, "Bonk-uh head!" I think it's because he's a little on the clutsy side and every time he falls or trips he thinks he bonks his head. But it's not always at the end. When he says "buh-loo", it always takes me a second to realize he's saying "blue" and not "balloon". It's adorable.

4. The speed at which they learn is always amazing to me. Joseph now knows the entire alphabet and will orient the little foam letters in the proper way for each. Luke knows most of it - it's really hard to tell exactly how much because he's not as forthcoming about it as Joseph is. They count to ten, but Joseph skips the number 5, and Luke skips 3. What really surprised me was the other day. They climb down the stairs backward and tend to count each step as they go. I was expecting them to stop or start over at 10. Instead they went on counting! 'leven, twell, tirteen... They skipped around in the order and half-mumbled some of them, but surprise! They know some double digits. They're getting better at their colors. Oddly enough, they're really good at identifying pink.

5. I stumbled across this old video yesterday, and OMG...

• It's proof that little Luke wasn't always terrified of the happy birthday tune.
• He's actually in tune. And
• LOOK HOW TINY THEY WERE! Ah, kills me! So sweet at almost 3 months old that it pings the old ovaries.
  

6. We really have to watch what we say around the boys now. While I was driving the other day, Luke suddenly starts yelling, "Come on, cars!" I'm just glad that was all he yelled. Mommy has a lot of work to do on her driving etiquette... And then we were changing one of Joseph's particularly nasty diapers, and Luke comes running up, points at the mess and yells, "OH GAWD!" as if he were really horrified by what he saw. What?!? I honestly don't know where he picked that up, but now we're hard at work trying to change it to "Oh gosh!" Oops.

7. I think I've mentioned before that they call each other and themselves DeeDee. The other day we were at our friend Erin's house. Erin was trying to figure out if her son knew which boy was Luke and which was Joseph so she pointed to Luke and asked her son, "Who's that, Connor? Who's that?" Luke looked at her sincerely, pointed to himself and said, "DeeDee. DeeDee." And when they call out to each other, it's usually with a long, drawn out DeeeeDeeeeee. We love it.

Well, just yesterday it appears that Joseph has mastered the concept of formal nouns, specifically his & his brother's real names. He started pointing to Luke and very carefully & slowly enunciating each letter, "LLLUUUUKKKE" This morning he grabbed Luke's water cup, handed it to him and said, "LLUUKKE cup!" When I handed him his own and asked whose it was he said, "Joz[somethingIcouldn'tunderstand]" His name is going to be hard since they haven't quite mastered the 's' or 'f' sounds. Greg and I are actually pretty sad to see DeeDee start to go so we're using it a bit more in an effort to keep it alive.

8. Speaking of the 's' sound, Joseph & Luke are working hard on it. Their tongues get in the way, giving them cute lisps. Love it!

9. The day Greg has been looking forward to since before the boys were even born has come. They now help us CLEAN! Every night before heading upstairs, they help us collect their toys and put them away. They're also a bit obsessed with the vacuum cleaner and dust buster. Fits right into Greg's master plan of having a small army of little helpers under our roof.

10. And now here's a super-long video from tonight for the grandmas (because I suspect it's too boring for most other people). You can see how they sing with Greg, know their sign language, practice their colors (green-uh!) and the letter 's'. Yippee!




The boys are 2 years (+ 2.5 weeks) old.

Ten on Tuesday

1. On April 29th, Greg and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Five years! I can't believe it's been that long. I can't believe how blessed I am, how much we've done together in such a short time, how lucky we are to have this relationship, this family, this much love.

My sweet surprise

I love you, Greg.


2. It's early May. And it's hot! Hot and dry. Time to bust out the water toys.


They are much more interested in using the hose to fill up their pool than actually playing in the pool. Typical.



3. Every drink they see in Mommy's hand is either coffee or wine. I know I should be slightly ashamed of this fact, but honestly I just find it funny.


4. This picture was taken just a few minutes before Joseph took a horrible tumble down our deck steps.

He was in the Cozy Coupe, and one of the wheels must have inched it's way off the edge. I saw it all happen in slow motion but wasn't fast enough. Poor baby got a good scrape across his nose, but thank goodness nothing else. We were so lucky. That car did an entire flip forward while I watched, helpless and scared to death. I cried about that fall on and off for the rest of the day and will have nightmares for a good long while. There is now a baby gate up at the top of those steps. It ticks them off something fierce but too bad, kiddos. Mama doesn't need a heart attack, and you don't need broken bones.

The most pitiful thing was Joseph's retelling of that story. Greg was holding him as he pointed down the stairs and repeated, "Staaaairs. Booooonk. Noooooose" in long, drawn-out, sad words. We know, buddy. And it was sad.


5. One of Luke's favorite activities is to run like a maniac, as fast as he can, from one end of a straight line to another. He's fast and coordinated and determined.

Little man on a mission

6. A few weeks ago we busted out some new bath toys, foam letters and numbers. In the process of playing with those, the boys seem to have learned a good chunk of their alphabet, which completely shocked Greg and I. Joseph is really studious and knows all of the following:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

They can't make the ess or eff sounds yet so no C, F, or S, and they call the X ek. Since they're foam letters, Joseph always turns M over to make W, and the J looks an awful lot like the L. They're still working on the distinction between U and V, which they call A much of the time. Luke can identify most of the same ones, but his favorites are I, O, R and X.


7. They'll both point and say letters that stand out in the books that we read. I'll be reading a Thomas the Tank Engine book with them. The first letter on each page is in a bigger font than all the others, so they point it out to me and shout the letter. They get it right more often than not. We have an old keyboard that Joseph plays with. He'll sit with it in his lap and point to different keys and say the letters. Who needs fancy flash cards?


8. We haven't been working too hard with the boys on their numbers, but Joseph understands the concept of two. He'll tell us he has two knees or two eyes. We have two cats. There are two cameras in his room (looking down into each of their cribs). It's very cute. I also occasionally hear him walking around saying, "...8, 9, 10." Three through 7 have gone AWOL apparently.


9. Luke is very particular about what he wears. Or rather, when he sees a favorite article of clothing, he'll insist on wearing it right then, which explains why when Greg came home yesterday, he walked in to find Luke in his flannel footy dog pajamas. Others he likes: his long-sleeved Elmo shirt, his tractor shirt, his truck pajamas, and mommy's purple shirt.



10. They have learned the power of hugs and aren't afraid to use it. When Joseph gets a boo-boo, he tells us about it, like Ninger. Ouch. or Head. Bonk. Then he sticks out his bottom lip, lifts his arms up to us, and plaintively says Hug. Of course, we oblige. But then he started using it at bedtime. Since we can't say no, it buys him a few more seconds before we tell him goodnight. And then this morning, he was being chastised for something by daddy. His response? Hug. Ha! Luke tried his hand at it this morning to get out of a diaper change. If it's a choice between that and pitching fits, I'll take hugs please.


The boys are 23 months and a bit.

Happy Discoveries

I just found one of the thousands of little spiral notebooks that I have stashed all around the house. I keep them handy for the times when my brain simply will not shut down because of all the random, miscellaneous tidbits or to-do's that are bouncing around in there. Or when I'm reading up on one of my many projects and want to take notes. It's a useful place to purge and collect info, info that is often never seen again, but hey, it makes me feel better to write it down and, in a sense, wipe the slate clean.

As I rifled through these pages, I realized that the content of this notebook spans the past four years of my life! With pages filled with notes from researching the installation of our wood floors, to our 2007 Christmas card list, to the tallying of bills, to sweet notes I wrote about us while I was pregnant, to musical playlists, to notes I made about my mother-in-law's cancer, to shopping lists for converting one of the upstairs bedroom into the nursery, to flight information. And on the back of that page? Luke's pen scribbles. With a more complex set of scribbles on the following page. And then as I flip through the rest, I can see his progression. At first he'd turn one page at a time. Scribble, scribble, scribble. Then in his impatience, he started grabbing wads of pages. Flip. Scribble, scribble, scribble. Flip. Scribble, scribble, scribble.

Now the otherwise empty pages are dotted with his little masterpieces.



It's silly and probably overly-sentimental, but I'm never throwing this notebook out.

Those little hasty scribbles are going to bring me smiles for the next four years. I'm already looking forward to future mindless note-jotting and purging, only to stumble on one of Luke's circa spring '11 creations. And it will bring a bright spot to an otherwise mundane task. Thanks, little man.


The boys are 22.5 months old.

22 Months

In case you hadn't noticed, during my blogging hiatus my boys seem to have somehow, magically, grown even cuter.

Exhibit A:Enjoying their favorite Sesame Street sketches

I know. I know. I didn't think it was possible either. But apparently we were both wrong.

Exhibit B:Carrots, anyone?

Portrait of the artist as a young man

Must I go on? Ok. If you insist.

Exhibit C:Balance

Cool

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.


They haven't felt like babies in quite a while, but in two short months, it'll be official. Today they turned 22 months old.

Frankly, that realization shook me. Two years old. Such big boys. This past year has flown by so, so quickly. Last June they were these growing babies just figuring out how to take their first steps. I blinked and suddenly they're these handsome, strapping boys who literally run circles around me. I'll blink again, and they'll be 5, starting their first day of school. Another blink and they'll be walking across the stage at their high school graduation. Blink. Going off to college. Blink. Beginning their careers. Blink. Marriage. Blink. Starting families with their own babies. It all goes by so quickly. Too quickly. In fact, when I stop to think about the whirlwind pace of it all, my chest grows tight and my breathing becomes shallow. My heart is just on the edge of breaking into a million little pieces. They're growing up. Inevitability doesn't make those pangs any less difficult.

But right now they're here. And there's no place they'd rather be than with their mommy and daddy. I have to remind myself that they won't always be quite so willing to be held or to give sloppy wet kisses with those sweet, little puckered lips or to sit and read books in Mommy's lap. Some day they'll be old enough to read their own books, ones without 'choo choo twains', 'moo cows' or friendly, fuzzy monsters. They'll be able to articulate their every need and won't require me to solve a puzzle in order to figure it out or translate so that Daddy will know they want the whole banana, not those puny cut-up slices. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited about each and every little step along the way in the long process of "growing up". I'm excited about new adventures and discoveries. I'm excited to see how they'll transition from these wild, sweet toddlers into grown, young men. I just wish it'd slow down a little. What's your rush? In the meantime I try to soak up every little nuance and quirk into my memory and appreciate each moment as it comes.

By the way, I am loving, LOVING, this age. Tantrums and all!


The boys, 22 months old today.

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.

Wedding Week-end Away

Since they were born, I've never spent a day away from the boys. I haven't been ready to spend a day away from them. But the time finally came.

My good friend Terra, who I've known since we were about 13, got married this week-end in Dallas!


I couldn't be happier for her. Jason is a great guy and obviously head-over-heels for Terra. It was a sweet wedding and so nice to catch up with her entire family, many of whom I hadn't seen in, oh, 15 years!

**And since I'm doing a sneaky post-dated publish on this one, I can spill the beans (since she already has to all her friends and family). She's also PREGNANT! I'm sure she & Jason will be great parents to their lucky little one. I could not be happier for them!**




Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

My absence meant that Greg was home alone with the boys for 28 hours. He was understandably a little nervous at this thought. He'd never spent a whole day alone with them, much less got them up, fed, clothed, entertained, napped, bathed and back to bed all solo. It is no easy task.

But I'm happy to report everything went fantastically! Not that I had any doubts or anything, but I know how tough it can be. I called a few times to make sure everyone was surviving. They were not only alive but having a great time!


Greg put the phone up to each of their ears during my calls so I got to talk to the boys, reminding them to behave and take it easy on their old man. :) And to tell them how much I love and missed them.


Apparently, they'd sit there, perfectly still with the phone up to their ears. Greg was sure they knew it was me. They'd have big smiles on their faces when they heard my voice and kept wanting to hear more after the other one was done. Made for some very long one-sided conversations, but it was too cute to resist.


When I finally got home (traffic on I35 is a beast!), I was greeted with huge smiles and hugs and lots & lots of kisses. Love it!


My sweet boys are almost 14.5 months old.

Smash Cake Fail

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




Heartbreaking, isn't it. Poor babies!

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.

My Beautiful Family

There's a local photographer whose work I've been coveting for years. I love her photos. They are so fresh and sweet and light. She captures so many secret, quiet moments between loved ones that some of them have honestly made me choke up a little. Or a lot if I'm perfectly honest.

They make me happy. But none of them more so than these!

Look at my handsome boys!!! I am in love all over again!


We had a shoot with her bright and early this morning that I've been preparing for and anticipating for months. We met in a parking garage of all places and spent probably an hour and a half with her. The boys were really confused. New clothes, new person, out of the house bright and early, being plopped down all over the place and having goofy noises and goofy Daddy bouncing around them for no apparent reason. The weather was hot & humid. And yet, what came out of it were these gorgeous photos!

Greg and I saw the sneak peak this afternoon and were blown away. I mean, we were THERE, and we didn't even see these moments. How did she capture these? It wasn't as if she were clicking and shooting like a mad woman, like I do when I'm trying to catch the boys doing something cute. Color us impressed!

And in 2-3 weeks, we'll have so many more to oooh and ahhhhh over. I honestly don't know how I'm going to stand it. I guess I will just have to constantly stare at these four until then. :)


The boys are 1 year & 8 days old.

Our Last Day at the Beach

Our last day of a wonderful, relaxing vacation

It's been so great to have Mimi & Uncle Trav here to help us celebrate and relax (and clean and cook and entertain and babysit).

It's been fun introducing the boys to the ocean and waves and sand.

Next time we're here, they'll be old enough to run and splash and get into all sorts of trouble.

I don't want to think about that though.

I look forward to the adventure and fun of impending toddlerhood, but right now I'm going to enjoy the last days of their babyhood while I still can.

Love them sooooo much!

My sweet babies boys are one year & 1 week old.

Snuggle Time

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.

Water Babies

Grumpy babies need dunks in the pool. Fact.

I find this photo hilarious. Sorry, Mom. :)

Despite their best efforts, their grouchy resolves were no match for pool time.

It was a family effort...

...but they totally came around.

Ok, Not So Cute But Pretty Dang Funny

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

No Words; Just Cuteness

I know I have too many pictures in my posts. I know I need to cull them down to only the best, cutest ones. But I just can't. I love them all. Sorry.