Snack Happy!

Last night, Abe managed his way into the kitchen while Jeremy and I did the after dinner dash (change diapers, wipe faces, change jammies, clean up the kitchen, etc.). After 30 seconds or so, we heard him crunching away on something. Never a good sign.

Jer immediately jumped up and went on the search for the our missing A.B. thinking he might be into his record collection in the living room. Well imagine the surprise when he found him just a few feet away...at our kitchen door...eating what else? Cheerios and pine needles. Don't reread it. You read it correct the first time. Cheerios AND pine needles. Out of the the space between the door sweep and the tile. Lovely.

Hmmmm. I thought it was strange that there was no cleanup after our Cheerio snack yesterday.

It appears, several Cheerios were thrown (?!?!) or dropped from the high chair yesterday and made their way into the abyss that is the bottom of my kitchen door. When I cleaned up yesterday, I didn't think to check that said abyss. Silly me. Anyway, I guess a very able Abraham decided he would help himself to a bedtime snack. Yum! Fiber!

As for the pine needles. Well, yeah, those are from Christmas. Ummmm. You see, I been needing to bring in the shop vac to get those...and well...anyway...

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On a side note, my cousin Chelsea who is a nanny to twin girls, suggested an EXCELLENT idea for finger food phobic mothers. Soak the O's! Imagine that! She suggested yogurt or breastmilk. Again. Great idea. Thought I would toss that out there for food-for-thought!

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In other news, Abe took his first steps yesterday. Two steps, from me to the couch to get the phone. He looked like FrankenBaby walking his two little wobbly steps. Precious!

What changes! And because I can't leave you without pics for the gp's, feast on these...

Sweet Ben

"I am Abraham, hear me roar!"

Have a fiberous Friday!

Hi Ho! Cheerio

After MUCH reassurance from family and friends, I finally bit the bullet and accepted the fact that the boys were not going to choke and die if I gave them any food that hadn't been pureed into smithereens first. Obvious first choice: Cheerios. So after a particularly rough day with the boys, today, we went to the mattresses Cheerios. (Any Godfather fans out there? Anyone? Anyone?) They were a hit (duh, right?) and we ACTUALLY had 15 minutes of total peace and quiet! No one fussed, no one cried and I got to eat my lunch in one try :)

I just have to mention, if this post winds up on the Cheerios website, I'm going to start writing only about BMW's.

Baby Grace Update

Loved Ones, Grace continues to amaze us all on a daily basis. She has grown to 3lbs 12ozs as of Tuesday, January 20th, which happens to be her and Makaila's two month birthday. She is taking a bottle twice a day now and Kelly is breast feeding her once a day. She has taken at most about half of her full feed which right now is one ounce. As of Monday night she has been on the nasal cannula which is essentially the least of all the breathing apparatuses. Soon she will be four pounds and at that point she will be big enough to regulate her own temperature and can move into a crib and out of her isolate. At this point, it's basically just a matter of time. Grace needs to be able to eat all her feeds on her own. Her breathing needs to be stable, but even if she still needs a bit of oxygen, she could still potentially go home. This is a likely scenario since we live at 8500 feet in elevation. Kelly, Sasha, and I have all had a lingering cold or something of the sort and by God's grace, she has not been sick or shown any signs thus far. There are so many babies here in the NICU, many with very serious issues. We feel so blessed at this point that she has had such a positive outcome and we pray that things will continue to go smoothly. If everything continues the way it has, we theoretically could be home in a month or so with many ifs, buts, and maybes, of course. So continue to pray for Grace and the rest of us that time will pass quickly, and most importantly that Grace will be healthy and strong. Thanks for all the love and support, we are truly blessed. Chris, Kelly, Sasha, and Grace.

11 Months Old!

Eleven months ago, when I started this little endeavour to track the boys growth by photo, I had no idea how much these pictures would come to mean to me! What nostalgia washes over me when I pull out the pictures of our two, three and four month old newborns! What joy when I see their six month shots and remember that their clothes finally matched their ages in that photo!

However, one thing I did not anticipate about taking these monthly shots is just how impossible difficult they would become to take. I could have never imagined how hard it would be to get two mobile tykes to sit, stay, and smile. Up until now, though, we've always managed to squeak by with just enough decent pictures to post. Up until now.

In past months, both boys smiled beautifully with VERY little coaxing!

They always looked at the camera and they CERTAINLY DID NOT pick fuzz out of their toes....

OR eat it.

In past months, they didn't just finish crying so there were certainly no remaining tears glistening under their eyes.

And did I mention, in past months, they smiled...

I guess just like Ben and Abe have changed so much over these last 11 months, so too have our chair pictures. So I leave you with these two...

Sitting *on their terms* with no bear in sight, slobber on their jackets, missing socks, indifferent about the camera, but nonetheless precious because this is what life is like in our house at this exact point in time. And if "capturing the moment" is really what a photo is supposed to be about, then mission accomplished.

Happy 11 month birthday boys!

Just a Few of Number Two

Happy Tuesday,

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Just look at that arch! Hand raised, body off the ground!

Little boy, Benjamin, is becoming quite the jack of all trades these days. He's moving like a champ and even though he's not "cruising" like his brother, he still finds ways to keep himself entertained and into enough mischief! He's really taken off on the crawling too. It's a funny crawl where he still pulls with his arms more than he uses his knees, but day by day he's gaining strength and distance. Let's just say that life has become even more interesting with TWO mobile boys.

Speaking of interesting...let's talk about teething! Yowza! Eight teeth, between two boys, are working their way through VERY puffy gums, as you read. I pray they break before I do. A few times we've all three needed some Tylenol and a nap. The good news is that Benji will hopefully have a few chompers for eating birthday cake come February 26th! Come on' teeth! Such big boys they are!

In other news on the home front, we're really making strides in the food department. It seems there is so much that the boys are eating and I've even found that I can *sometimes* give them tastes off of my plate. So far, faves include eggs, cheese, yogurt, black beans and pears. We've only encountered two no-go's: cauliflower and lentils. Absolutely nothing will make these two things go down the hatch. In fact, they are even scraped off the tongue by little fingers. It's quite comical...

I'm We're really pushing the sippy cup as of late too. I've been told the boys can start cow's milk come the big numero uno but I think we might wait a wee longer. Really, we're in no hurry. We have our system down pat and I have mixed feelings about the health benefits of continuing with breast milk through the second year. What I don't have mixed feelings about is the pump. I am ready to throw that thing off the highest mountain!

More exciting news: Jer and I leave Wednesday for four GLORIOUS days in San Diego. B and A are staying with Grandpa Tom and Nana. I think some fish tacos will be in order. For us, not them. Yee-haw.

Have a great week!

That's My Baby! Or is it...

The boy's Mimi, Jeremy's mom, posted these pictures of when Jer was a wee lad. We had quite a bit of fun looking them over and comparing them to Ben and Abe. It was absolutely shocking; however, to see the picture of the little boy wearing the white and blue striped tank top right in the middle of the pics. Who does the sweet boy remind you of? Any other conclusions you can draw from these pictures?

You can click anywhere on the photos if you would like the collage to appear larger!

Standing Room Only

Possible things you find under/behind your couch:

1. Change
2. Lint
3. Bits of food
4. Your baby

You just cannot make this stuff up.

NO, NO, Klepto!

My boy is not robbed of fascination when it comes to the bottom drawer of the entertainment center and all of it's lovely treasures.

It calls to him like a jewel calls to a thief!

And let me tell you, he seizes the opportunity anytime he can...

He pilfers through TOTALLY ignoring any threat of consequence...

His grubby little hands on anything they can take...

Just when you think he's finished with the lift...

He goes back for another pinch...

...and to think that I just thought he was good at stealing hearts!
(Yes, that's the thermometer in his hands. *Sigh*)

Hmmmm.....

I was just wondering if anyone else is starting to freak out over the fact that those two baby boys are getting AWFULLY close to the one year mark? I know I sure am.

Another gadget

Just trying out my new signature... : ) If only it was this nice.

T.I.C.K.L.E

Sitting Pretty!

Not a great picture but t I'm learning to take what I can get. "Still" children are a rarity these days.

It's Cheesy, But It Made This Mother Proud!

This afternoon, I logged into Sloansburg only to find that a few visitors had made their way ALL the way from Portland, Oregon. Not really knowing anyone from Oregon, I decided to use the link that they had used to come visit us and try to figure out what venue had brought them our way. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up the site only to discover it was Tillamook's Fan Club and there was a picture of Mister. A.B. next to our very cheesy post on the boys first try at shredded Tillamook! It's enough to make this mother proud! (and a loyal customer for years to come!)

Check out Tillamook's littlest fans HERE! Although, I'm not sure how long they'll be there! There's a lot of people out on this world wide web of ours that love their cheese just as much as we do!

It Must Be Tuesday...

UPDATED TO ADD: You can search for CSA growers in your area by clicking here!

Every Tuesday a white van pulls up in front of my house. The door opens and a very nice young man pulls a box out of the back. That very same nice young man then places that box on my doorstep, careful not to ring the doorbell as our sign so nicely states not to. Babies sleeping! Is it the mailman? No. Is it Fed-Ex? No. It's our LPO delivery guy and he's delivering...groceries. Produce to be exact. In case you haven't heard me rave enough about our CSA (community supported agriculture) box from Los Poblanos Organics...here's some more propaganda for you. Eye-rollers need not read on.LPO delivery day is a rather exciting event around these parts. No, really, it is. You see, I have a problem. It's called grocery shopping. It never used to be a problem. In fact, it only started becoming a problem right around the time the doorbell sign appeared. Hmmmm. Anyway, LPO is a local organic grower. For a measly thirty bucks a week they DELIVER enough produce to suit a family of four. Did I mention they deliver? Most of each week's box consists of things that you would see in your common grocery trip (i.e. lettuce, apples, oranges, etc.). However, being the tricky little health conscious people that they are, LPO sticks some interesting items in along each week too. Let me just say it would not be unusal to open our fridge and see turnips, swiss chard, kale, beets, and leeks. NOR are we strangers to the Japanese sweet potato, Rainbow carrots, Bacon avocado and Cheddar cauliflour. It's a radical change from the same ol' hum-drum line-up of veggies that we once embraced, but a welcome one. Another, oh-so-nice, perk to our LPO box is that it forces me to think outside the "box" for meal ideas. It's always a fun adventure to find the tastiest Beet Risotto recipe and put it to practice. And yes, there is a Beet Risotto. Who doesn't love that? Diverse vegetables, diverse meals, delivery...can it get any better?In the event that you too are interested in supporting local growers, having organic produce delivered to your door for half the price of Whole Foods, or you just have a doorbell sign like me, check out Los Poblanos Organics. They even have a nifty way to earn your box for half price by working for two hours each week on the farm! Go ahead, try it. Do you think I would be blogging about it if it wasn't so good?

Diversity+delivery=love