background

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas Part 2

Later in the day on Christmas, we headed back to the Suttners' for more presents and our yummy lasagna dinner. The boys got more fun stuff, including more trucks and planes, books, a shape sorter, a lawn mower push toy and a vacuum push toy. I'd say they are two lucky, loved, and spoiled boys!

 
 
Holden needed to make a phone call...
 
 
 
Did we forget to open anything? Is there anything in this box?
 
Too funny not to include...They're squishing Henry!
And some uncle love...
Bundled up for the ride home!
Posted by Picasa

Friday, December 28, 2012

Christmas Part 1

We had a great Christmas this year. Here's a quick recap. The boys enjoyed pulling ornaments off the tree and playing with the lights. I tried to get a few good pictures of them with the tree, but these were the best. 

 


Christmas Eve, we went to my parents' house. The boys enjoyed time reading a story with Grandpa! We tried to get a decent family picture, but it gets harder and harder. :) After we ate, the boys got one present from Grandma and Grandpa, a cozy coupe! They liked it a lot, and didn't fight over it too much. One of them would ride in it, and one would push the other around. I know that will be great fun once we can take it outside this spring!
 
 
 
 
I got a picture of our tree with presents under it...note the lack of ornaments on the lower half. :) Then it was present time! The boys were much more "into it" than last year. Holden especially liked to rip paper, and they both liked to pull tissue out of the bags. They immediately wanted to play with each toy that was opened, which was cute. They enjoyed pulling stuff out of their stockings, too. Santa brought them a play tent and tunnel, a kitchen utensil set, some wooden trucks, a Little People school bus, a few books, balls, bubbles and some little booty/slipper things (which have been very nice since they actually keep them on their feet, unlike regular socks!) We had a yummy breakfast casserole that the boys maybe tried a bite of. So it was a nice, quiet morning!   
 
 
 
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

14/15 Months

I will have to combine 14 and 15 months, since I've gotten behind! The 14 month pictures were kind of a fail, as you can see. I think we were in a rush to get somewhere, so I gave up pretty quick! :) 15 month pictures were better, since Uncle Evan was behind me trying to get them to smile. Trying to think of some stats and tidbits to share about the boys the last few months...

Holden started walking a week before Thanksgiving, so that's a big one!! Henry was able to take some steps around the same time, but didn't really start walking until 2 or 3 weeks later. I think he just knew he was fast at crawling! He had the cutest crawls, the one leg straight and one bent and the both legs straight crawl. Henry also does the sit 'n spin when he's sitting down and will spin himself in a circle. Would love to get some of those on video!

These boys get into EVERYTHING. I swear, every time we go to a friends' house, they get into cords and plugs, eat cat food, break a glass vase, wander upstairs alone, or spill/try to drink the dog's water bowl. (Yes, ALL of these have happened at different peoples' houses, sigh.) They can really reach up onto the table now and seem to be able to get anything we're trying to keep away. We're trying to get more organized and really have a place to put things away. We used the command strips (Velcro type things) to keep some of the cabinets closed and that works pretty well. They love to crawl up on the fireplace hearth, which we don't approve of. Not sure how to stop them getting up there; Henry's already fallen off once. They're still fascinated by cords and plugs, they love to turn light switches on and off, and they're starting to like to put the lids back on things, like with their lotions and creams. It's pretty cute!

They play together well most of the time. It's getting harder for them to share. If one of them is doing something fun, the other immediately wants to steal that toy or join in. So I feel bad for them, that they can't really just explore whatever they're interested in without someone interrupting. But, that's life I guess, they'll be great about sharing by the time they get to preschool. They love to hide behind the curtains to peek at us, play with their cars and trucks and make the car sounds, and push their lawnmower/shopping cart/vacuum. They like books, too, but they're pretty rough on them. They'll bring us a book to read, but we don't usually make it through the whole thing.

Eating is a little more difficult, since they're a bit pickier. They still love carbs, so we can always count on animal crackers or toast, etc. They love to eat what I'm eating, so I rarely get to finish a piece of toast in the morning. I know I shouldn't feed them while they're walking around, but they're pretty demanding! :) They love fruit, and Alex can get them to eat some veggies. They LOVE the baby food packets, and we give them lots of applesauce since that's the cheapest/easiest. They start kicking and waving their arms around in delight when they see the applesauce...sigh. They like to "dip" their food now, too. When they have chicken nuggets and veggie/sweet potato fries, we let them dip in ketchup. It's not too messy most of the time. They're getting better with a sippy cup, but still drink their milk from a bottle. (A habit we need to probably break soon, but oh well.)

They love taking baths, so you can't say the word around them or they'll head for the bathroom door! They hate getting dressed or getting lotion put on them, so it's a sad end to the bath, unfortunately. We're trying to brush their teeth more often, but still not doing great on it. The cutest thing is that when they have a toothbrush, they try to brush their hair with it. I had Holden and was brushing his teeth, and when he started to brush his hair with it, I gave him the hairbrush. So then he tried to put that in his mouth! I guess this brushing thing is really pretty confusing. :) I don't think they have any new teeth yet, but I think it'll be soon. Henry has been chewing on his stuffed dog a lot and his gums feel bumpy. Hope he gets a molar through soon! Sleep is still fine; they're taking two naps still but probably need to transition down to one. Holden especially is waking up really early in the morning, so I think he's ready for just one nap. We'll see how this goes in the next month or so.

Clothes are still in the 12-18 month range. They can still wear most of the 12 month pants, so I guess they're kinda short! I don't know weight yet, since our appointment isn't for another week or so. They have some cute little Striderite shoes, and they wear a size 4 wide. (Sorry for the wide feet, boys.) 
Cute little twin story: Henry hit his head when he fell this morning, and I was holding him while he was crying. Holden went and got Henry's lovey/bulldog that was on the living room floor and handed it to me for Henry. I gave it to Henry and he stopped crying. !!! I mean, come on!! How cute is that?! :) I thought it was pretty amazing, anyway.

They are still sweet, happy little boys! They went through a bit of clinginess, especially Holden. He can act shy and not want to go to people right away, but he usually warms up pretty fast. He cries when I leave for work in the afternoon. But that's all normal! They're also babbling up a storm. Not many real words, but I think they understand a lot of words we say. Still waiting to hear a real "mama" from them. Not fair that they say dada!! :) That's all I can think of for now, I'll add more later if I forgot anything. 
Posted by Picasa

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Card 2012

I wanted a cute picture for our card this year, so here's a selection of outtakes and favorites from the photo shoot. :) We did it at my parents' house, so if they're not looking at the camera, it's because Grandma or Grandpa weren't right behind me and the boys were looking at them. Grandpa can always get a laugh! We had a couple different ideas, including the ornaments (plastic non-shatter obviously) and a wrapped box to put them in. (They have a box they love to play in in our living room.) So after a nap, we put on the Christmas jammies and went to town!! First, the four favorites. 
 
 

Now, for the outtakes!! It's nice to have digital memory cards and just be able to click away! We had several that were good of just one boy, so I cropped those to get one of Holden and one of Henry. If only I knew how to use the magic of Photoshop and combine different faces from different pictures! ;) Maybe next year.
 

The rest are just silly ones! They loved to put the ornaments in their mouths (which I'm sure is not great, but cut me some slack.)
 
 
 
 


And finally, here's the picture we chose and the actual card design! (I scanned it in so the quality's not great.) But overall, I thought it turned out pretty cute. :) Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas from Henry and Holden! 
 
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, December 23, 2012

First time in the Snow!

We got our first snow that stuck around on Friday, and luckily Uncle Evan was able to come over for lunch with us. So we decided to get the boys out in the snow!! As I knew it would, it took about 20 minutes to get both of them ready to go out, plus get me and my camera ready. The boys did ok waiting, but didn't like that they couldn't walk or move very freely. It was pretty funny, they looked like puffs. Henry just laid on the floor since I don't think he could figure out all the "stuff", snow pants, coat and heavy boots! The worst part was the gloves/mittens. I couldn't get them to stay on the boys' hands. Any tips for getting them to stay on? Because that's the one thing they really need to keep on if they want to play in the snow.

So we finally got out in the yard, and they just sat for a few minutes, watching Lanore and figuring out if they could move or not. :) They did eventually crawl around a little and enjoyed watching Lanore the snow dog run around and grab sticks. Evan had Henry make a snow angel, but Lanore ran through it before I could take a picture. :) We didn't stay out too long, because it was really cold. Someone's mitten fell off and I couldn't get it back on, and one of Henry's boots fell off, so we headed back inside. Now that we have more snow, I'm thinking about taking them back out, but I have to have someone here to help. It's quite a process to get them out there!! I think once we do it again, they'll be more adventurous. 
 
 
 
 
Posted by Picasa