Eleven Months Old

Wow, that really sounds old. How can it be that next month I have two one year olds? I'm starting to really reminisce and think about what I was doing at this time last year, how we were still getting ready for them, how I still had another baby shower coming up. And I'm also looking forward to their birthday party! Woo! I got the invitations done, and I think they look really cute! I'll post it here soon.

I did take the boys in to get weighed, so Henry was 17 pounds, 15 ounces and Holden was 18 pounds, 6 ounces. So Henry's closing in the gap a little bit! I was worried they had an ear infection because they'd been cranky, but they were fine. Still waiting on more teeth to come in! (They're both still at 6.)

They're starting to get bored of all the same stuff around our house. They really seem to like to go somewhere new, like a friend's or grandma's house. They love to sit outside on the blanket in the yard and enjoy walks. I'm really hoping to get a wagon for their first birthday, because I think they'll love sitting up in that to go for walks.

 They both said their first words this month! They both said "dog" although from Henry it sounds like "da" and Holden it sounds like "gog". :) But they look for and point towards Lanore when they see her. And they can pretty much say duck and dada, too. I'm still working on getting them to wave or clap and to say bye bye or mama!

Napping has stayed mostly the same, although they don't want to sleep as long in the afternoon. They also seem pretty content to play in their cribs for a while in the morning, so sometimes I don't even hear them for a while after they wake up! And it's the cutest thing ever to hear them laughing at each other in the cribs. That's when I really wish I had a video monitor! Eating has been a struggle, since they seem to be bored of old stuff but not very willing to try new stuff. We kinda broke down and went back to more purees to make sure they were eating some vegetables. They always love puffs and bananas and usually toast or gram crackers. They are not crazy about eating cut up veggies by themselves. I'm a little anxious to switch to whole milk in a month or so, but they'll probably be just fine. We just haven't spent a lot of time getting them to drink from a sippy, so hopefully they can figure that out by then!

Can't think of much else to report. I'll definitely try to write longer posts about each of them for their birthday. And I'm sure I'll have LOTS to post about their party! Woo! So that's all for now. I'll leave you with two sneak peek pictures of their invite/party theme. :)

Playdates and Parties, Oh My!

We had a fun and busy weekend! Starting with the playdate at Rachael's house on Friday, it was great to catch up with the moms and babies I hadn't seen in a while. So hard to remember when our playdates used to be babies laying on the floor and maybe rolling over! Now it's so fun to see who's walking, waving, talking, yelling...lol. (Sometimes we have to watch out for bullies.. ::cough Ian cough:: just kidding! :) Avery had a cool new wagon that she pushed Holden around in. In the second picture, Henry decides to get involved. In the third, Holden looks frightened that now his brother is pushing him. :) 

 

 

On Saturday, we had Ian's first birthday party! It was so cute, Melissa did a great job. She had a Dr. Seuss theme with lots of red blue and yellow decorations, and a cute photo banner. They had lots of push toys and climbers in the yard so the babies could all roam and play. (She apparently has tons of friends with babies because there were probably 6-8 kids playing in the yard!) It finally cooled down a little and was such a pretty day! Rachael and I started to dream about fall hayrides and pumpkin patches...so excited! She had lots of yummy things for the boys to try, including mini grilled cheeses and meatballs. I think they both liked them! Although when Alex tried to make the boys meatballs at home the next day, they didn't go for it. Must be the yummy sauce she had at the party. Ian did an awesome job smashing into the cake. I was pretty impressed that he actually ate a pretty big chunk of it! We got a picture of the playdate moms and dads that were there. Note Ian's red velvet covered face...awesome! They also had a wagon, so we got a cute picture of Avery between the boys. As Kelly says, it's an Amerman sandwich! She had cute party favors too...how could I pass up anything that has Thing 1 and Thing 2 on it? :)

That evening, we went to my parents' house to celebrate my dad's 60th. My mom made a yummy lasagna, which Henry was willing to try and Holden was not! It was fun to have them sitting in their chairs with us at the table while we ate, instead of someone holding them and not being able to eat with everyone else. Makes me excited for Thanksgiving this year...it will be a real family meal that they can participate in. So no pictures from the family dinner, but Happy Birthday, Grandpa! Your boys are lucky to have you as a grandpa, I'm lucky to have you as a dad, and we love you! :)

The next day...the party fun wasn't over! We went to my friend Christie's new house for Charlotte's first birthday. We missed most of the party since it was during the boys' nap, but it was fun to check out their new place, and I think the boys enjoyed playing with some of her new toys! They also got to explore a little and try climbing the steps. I'm sure we'll be hanging out there in the future. She had a cute theme as well, with the shabby chic decorations she made. I loved looking at how little she was and how she grew. I remember holding her in the hospital before the boys were born. How did a year go so fast? Christie got a few good pictures of us with the kids. It's practically impossible to get a good one of four kids...but we try! :) Now I think the next party will be ours...can't wait to have all our favorite people in one place to celebrate the cutest twins turning one! I better get working on decorations...the bar has been set pretty high! :)

 

 

 

Random Picture Post

Ok, here it is, for those of you who never read anything and just look at the pictures! (You know who you are. But, I don't really blame you. Who doesn't like looking at cute baby pictures?!)

One piece of info: Boys' birthday party will be Sat. Sept. 29th, so mark your calendars! We can't wait to see lots of our friends and family there!

 

Funny face Henry

 



Holden in Daddy's hat!



 

They love playing with the curtains...it's SO cute!

Love this one! Henry in the kitchen..."mom, I'm busy cooking! I can't smile for a picture!"

Ok, I also love this one. Henry in the Clif bar box.

Where ya goin'?

"Mom, we don't like flip flops. Stop torturing us!"

Bottle time after an afternoon in the pool!

Friends and Visitors

The boys and I got to catch up with some old friends in the past few weeks. My friend from college, Michelle, and her husband Ben were in Indy for a few days and stopped over to say hi to the boys! They were staying with our friends Laura and Jacob, so it was nice to see them (minus Laura who was working) and get to have lunch.

We also had lunch with some good friends of mine. I used to teach Abby in school orchestra and for private violin lessons. I also coached her quartet for years; they were the group that played in my wedding! So I became pretty close to her and her mom, Rhonda. I can't believe she's going to be a senior this year!!! I miss them both so much...I miss having them over to the house every week to talk and catch up. But it was great to see them a few times this summer. :) And Rhonda takes good care of us...she brought new toys for the boys, and pizza, salad and drinks for us! Maybe next time I can convince Abby to bring her violin and play for the boys. :) I'm sure she sounds better than me!!

First State Fair Trip

While my mom was out of town for a few days, I asked Alex to take a day off of work and go to the State Fair. I usually go every year, but I skipped last year because I was pregnant. I just didn't feel like waddling around in the heat! And I knew they probably wouldn't get that much out of it this year, either, but I wanted to go! We got a good deal on admission, so we didn't feel too bad if we needed to leave early. I think we made it there a little after 10 or so, which messed up the boys nap schedule a little. But they did fine, they did take a quick snooze in the strollers!

We went to the photos/art/baking building first. I always love to look at the photographs. I wish I could take good pictures like that! Maybe someday. :) At least that building was air conditioned, so it was a good place to chill! The boys enjoyed a quick gram cracker before we moved on. (I had put their sandals on to keep some of the sun off their feet. Of course, they didn't want them on, and made it a game to see how quickly they could kick them back off! So I didn't really fight with them to get the sandals back on, hence the pictures of them with shoes missing. But it was really funny how many people stopped to point out that they were missing a shoe! :) It was sweet, but I'd put the other one back in the stroller pocket.)

Alex and I were hungry by that point, so we got one of the curly potato things. (They cut up and fry a few potatoes, so it's like a big curly fry/chip yummy thing.) We let the boys try some of it, but I don't think they were that into it. We also gave them a banana and some puffs, which they were happier about. So they got to get out of the stroller for a few minutes and sit in the grass while we ate. Then we wandered through some of the animal barns, and stared at some cows for a while. We headed back around to see the Super Dogs show, which was cute. I doubt they got much out of that either, but they do like dogs. And Alex and I enjoyed it! We should have gotten there earlier to get a seat in the stands and we could have stayed through the whole thing. We were just standing on the side, so after 10-15 minutes, we headed on.

We walked for a while longer, but skipped most of the exhibits. It's hard when you have such a wide stroller like we do. Alex got a sandwich and I got some corn (yum!) which I always have to get. I wanted to see the horses, so we walked back around the track to finally make it through the horse barns. The boys napped for a while at this point, and then were awake when we walked through the barns. I think next year they'll be a lot more into the animals, and that part will be more fun. I wanted to get them a grilled cheese (since it's the year of the dairy cow at the fair!) but they weren't even into that!

By that point, it was hot and we'd stayed a pretty long time. We had brought bottles for the boys, but somehow they leaked into the ice pack and there was hardly any left! So it was time to head for the car! We snapped a few quick pictures by the midway and I got an elephant ear as we were leaving. I wanted to offer that to the boys as well, but they were pretty cranky by that point. (It was actually the worst elephant ear I've ever had.... :( quite a disappointment.) We gave them what was left in the bottles and luckily had some extra in the car. So it was a pretty successful day overall! Honestly, I think we could have been an exhibit ourselves, considering the number of people looking and smiling at us and asking if they're twins. Maybe next year we'll charge admission to see the adorable twins. :)

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Alex got to celebrate his first birthday as a daddy! The boys as you can see were very serious about this, I wonder where they got it... :) Daddy hates to smile for pictures, too. We kept things low key, cause that's how he likes to be! I made a cake and got a balloon (mostly for the boys since they love to play with them.) I made dinner that night too, to try and give him a chance to sit and relax and have a drink!

We also went to dinner that Friday at the Oceanaire downtown. We'd never been, but they were doing the Devour Downtown special menu that made it a little cheaper. That place is expensive! But it was really good, and it was fun to have a night out together. (Thanks, Ashley, for watching the boys for us!) So happy birthday, Alex. Thanks for being a great husband and dad. I know you work hard to take care of all of us! We love you!

 

Then and Now: Dishwashers are Fun!

A few weeks ago, I was trying to do some dishes, and the boys were interested in "helping" me. Helping by climbing the dishwasher and trying to chew on the rug! So I had to snap a few pictures, of course. And then I remembered we had a picture of Uncle Evan climbing in the dishwasher when he was about this age! So here they are to compare (Baby Evan is chunkier and has more hair!) Holden is in the stripes. Sadly, the kitchen is now gated off, so the dishwasher pictures will be limited from here on out. :) But don't worry, there are plenty of other ways for them to get in to trouble.


 

 

 

10 Year Reunion and Park Picnic



Mom!! I'm too busy eating for a picture!



A few weeks ago, I had my 10 year (!) high school reunion. Crazy! At first the plans were to go someplace fancy and it was going to cost $45 a person. So I wasn't sure if we'd go or not. I knew there was a pretty good chance that my two best friends wouldn't be able to make it. (One is in pharmacy school and one is in Michigan doing her ER residency, so she doesn't exactly get to pick her hours!) But I also live like 15 minutes from my high school, so I knew it'd be pretty convenient for us to get there, no hotel or anything involved. So due to the low registration, they changed the event to being at a local restaurant/brew pub and you just paid your own tab. So we were in! :)

They also had planned a family event in the afternoon at a park close to our house that has a little splash park area. So I was pretty excited to take the boys and see what they thought. We've never been to a park (how sad does that sound) but it was an awesome day. We packed a picnic (ok I had a turkey sandwich and Alex had some trail mix, I'm sure we put much more thought into what the boys were eating!) and put them in their swim suits. When we got to the park, I couldn't really recognize anyone, or didn't see any signs or area that might be designated for us. So we just set up in a shady spot and ate our lunch. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and finally not so hot! The boys were chowing down on cantaloupe and gram crackers so they were pretty happy. We just had to make sure they didn't try to eat mulch or leaves...which they try to do every time we're not looking.

We wandered over to the swings and tried those out for a few minutes. (Henry wouldn't keep his hat on, of course.) Alex always thinks they're too small for things, so he didn't let me keep them in the swings very long. Then we tried out the splash park. It doesn't really seem great for babies. It's a very rocky design, and the bigger kids always want to run around and I can't really expect them to watch out for my little ones. I don't know how my friends manage to go to splash parks all the time! :) But we sat in the water for a few minutes, and they did ok. I think they'll have more fun with it next summer, when they can toddle around a little more! We walked them in the stroller a bit and decided to call it a day. I thought they did really well, and I had a lot of fun spending an afternoon in the park with our little family! I did end up seeing a few girls I knew from high school and some of their kids, so I chatted with them for a few minutes. I found one lives really close to me, so hopefully we'll get together for a playdate sometime soon!



Hey, Holden! This is kinda fun!



My parents came over to babysit so we could go to the evening event. We were some of the first ones there, since I wanted to eat! Apparently everyone else wanted to be fashionably late or just wanted to drink, lol. But I got to talk to a few friends and check out the crowd a little. I think the space was really too small for the number we had (we graduated with close to 900 people.) But I think so few people RSVPed and just showed up instead that we were crammed in there. So we didn't stay as long as I would have liked because Alex started to feel sick. But I'm glad I went, and it was fun to see some friends and catch up a little. It's funny how many of us are really still living in the area. So maybe it'll lead to me hanging out with a few people I haven't seen in a while! And hopefully the next event will be a bit better planned. This one was only on Facebook, so lots of people ended up commenting after the event that they hadn't known anything about it. Maybe they'll try a little harder to mail something or really reach out to more people. In the end though, it was fun, and I'm lucky it's so close to home and that I have such great babysitters! :)