My Babies Are One Year Old!

December 30, 2008

December 30, 2009One year ago today, Jackson David and Cullen Scott entered my world- and changed it for the better forever!

Where did the time go? I know it sounds cliche, but this year really truly has flown by. I can remember the day they were born like it was yesterday. A year ago yesterday, I remember being so curious to see what they would look like and who they would be. I remember being soooo anxious to get them out of me, not just so that I could meet them, but also (selfishly) because I was so over being pregnant. The night before they were born, Brandon and I still had no idea what we were going to name them so we went out to dinner one last time as our little family of two. We went to Rosa Mexicana, I was so huge that I had nothing to wear besides my old black yoga pants, my USC sweatshirt and flip-flops in the middle of December (because my feet didn't fit into any of my other shoes). I remember that I ate crab empanadas and about 20 pounds of the most delicious guacamole on the East Coast as we negotiated the names of our boys for over an hour. By the time we left, we had decided on the names :-)

12 hours later, we were at the hospital, I was getting hooked up to about a dozen machines, and getting very, very nervous about the c-section. But my doctor and all of the nurses were all so encouraging, and then everything kind of blurred together. They took me in the operating room, I held my breath during the epidural, Brandon came in at some point, and then all of a sudden... there they were! Jackson was first, I got a quick glimpse of him as they carried him to the scale, then Cullen, and I got another quick glimpse. And the blur continued for the next 24 hours; it was all so surreal. I remember that one of my first thoughts when I finally got to hold them several hours later was "I'm a mother! Oh sh**, what have I gotten myself into?!?" They were so small, I was scared to touch them. And, at the same time, they were so darn cute I just wanted to squeeze them to death.

And the blur continued for the next 12 months, until today, and I'm sure it won't slow down any time soon. I am convinced that I have the cutest, happiest and absolute best babies in the world (most days anyways). They are so fun, they always make me laugh, and they always have a smile on their face. I love watching them play and eat and even sleep. Nothing they do ever bores me! Although I'm a little sad that they're already a year old, I'm really looking forward to the next year and the one after that and the one after that..... Being a mom is just the best!



Here's what my little guys are up to these days:

*I won't know what they weigh until their appointment next week, but I'll guess around 21 pounds.

*They've just started wearing 12 month clothes which are a little big on them, but 9 month clothes are too small.

*They each still have only the two bottom teeth but they're nearly all the way in and I think they may get their upper teeth any day now. They also have lots of hair, everybody keeps telling me to cut it but I love it long and am not ready to cut it yet. So don't tell me my kids have mullets!!

*Jack is thisclose to walking!! He can take about 4-5 steps on a good try. And he's so darn proud of himself once he's done!

*Cullen isn't quite walking, but he will walk sometimes holding someone's hands. He can also stand for a few seconds on his own before tumbling over.

*They've finally gotten "M's" into their vocabulary. So they say "mamamama." There's no reason to believe that they know they're saying "mama" or mean to say it, but I can't wait for the day they do.

*They're finally beginning to pick up on the sign language that I've painstakingly been trying to teach them for the past 6 months. Jack does the signs for "all done" and "more." Cullen's getting close too.

*Jack also does this hilarious game of peek-a-boo where he puts one hand over his face, pulls it away and waits for everybody to applaud and yell "peek-a-boo!" Then he laughs and does it all over again.

*They're turning into slightly pickier eaters, but still are good eaters over all.

*They love to climb on anything and everything, they love to drive their trucks around the floor, they love to read books, and they love toys that make noise as we have recently discovered.

*They talk- well yelling is more like it- all of the time! They are rarely quiet, but it's hardly ever crying. They just like to talk to anybody and everybody- including themselves.

*And they have a knack for getting into mischief and grabbing for things they're not supposed to have. Today, Jack grabbed Ashlee's coffee (don't worry, it wasn't hot) and took a big swig spilling the rest all over himself and poor Ashlee. At the airport, Jack scoured the ground looking for pieces of dirt and lint and sneaking them in his mouth.

My babies are growing up into little boys. I am just trying to cherish the time I have with them now and do everything I can to help them grow up into little boys who love the Lord. I look forward to the rest of their childhood and feel so blessed to be their mother! I love you Jackson and Cullen!

Christmas

This post is a little late but we made it to Oregon and have been having so much fun there's been no time to blog. Here's what we did on our first family Christmas. The boys got TONS of presents! But we had a rocky start to the day. Cullen woke up in the middle of the night with a high fever of over 104 degrees. We called the doctor and they told us not to bring him to the hospital unless his fever went over 105 or if it stayed over 102 for over 24 hours. So we just gave him some Tylenol and stripped him down to his onesie to sleep in. We moved him into our bed so of course none of us got much sleep. Poor Cullen kept tossing and turning all night, waking up crying. We could tell he was exhausted though and wanted to sleep so badly but wasn't able to because of the fever. It was heartbreaking to watch. By the morning, his fever was down to 102 degrees and hovered near that all day. He didn't really have any other symptoms though, so the doctor told us not to worry too much since it was getting lower and he wasn't acting sick or in pain. We still have no idea what caused it, but thankfully it didn't ruin our travel plans to Oregon. He was a little fussy and tired, but overall both boys were in good spirits on their first Christmas.

Jack opening his presents.

As you can see, Cullen's real excited about that sweater.

Their shirts say "My brother is the naughty one" and they just crack me up!

New shoes! Just what they needed!

Opening more presents

We had a wonderful time in California this year. I was there for 2 1/2 weeks, but it flew by! I always love spending time with my family, but it's bittersweet for me at the same time. I never really talk about my parents' divorce on my blog because it's a family issue, but let me just say that if your parents are still married, and better yet, if they're still happily married then please THANK THEM for showing you such a good example of marriage. Let them know how much it encourages you to see their love for each other and that it helps you to approach your own marriage or other relationships in a better way. Someone once told me that one of the best things you can do for your children is to love your spouse more than your children and make sure your children know that. I think this is so true! I hope that my children see a good example of biblical love between Brandon and I and that they carry it with them when they grow up and get married themselves.

Birthday Boys

On Friday night, we had a little early birthday party for the boys. It was the first of 3 birthday parties they'll get this year, what spoiled kids! My sisters bought them birthday boy outfits complete with crowns and bibs that said "Mi Primer Cumpleanos" Here's Jack in his outfit:

Their first taste of cake, of course the devoured it. There are two videos below showing them thoroughly enjoying their birthday cupcakes!

Opening their presents, they weren't really into tearing them open but they did enjoy crumpling the wrapping paper.

Lately, Part 2

We've kept pretty busy this past week as well. Brandon and I escaped to Palm Springs for a couple days last weekend. We stayed at a really nice hotel and lounged around the entire time. It was so nice to be together again after such a busy, stressful semester. I feel like I never even saw my husband for over a month at the end there so I loved getting away with just him. We went to dinner at Bing Crosby's which is a super swanky restaurant and piano lounge that describes itself as "golf-course casual by day, Hollywood glam by nightfall." I LOVED it!! The decor was sooo nice inside, I've been inspired about how I want to redecorate my living room (if I ever get money in the budget for it). Lots of greens, tans, dark wood and silver accents. Plus there were awesome black and white pictures of Bing Crosby himself all over the walls. It was a really fun date with my husband, despite getting lost for over an hour trying to find the restaurant. Our mini-getaway was the perfect way to recover from the crazy semester. Here we are at the restaurant:

We took a bike ride down to a shopping center by my Mom's house which was a lot of fun as well. We picked up some stocking stuffers for the boys at Target and enjoyed a leisurely ride back. I love that we were able to do this in t-shirts and shorts in the middle of December, sorry to all my East Coast friends who are stuck in the blizzards ;-)

I really like this picture of Brandon, he's so handsome!!
My Dad took all of us kids bowling the other night. Brandon bowled the best game of his life! Here he is about to bowl his first of 5 strikes in a row!! He ended up with a 205 and was pretty darn proud of it, I was just happy to get my measly 89, ha!

The parents-to-be

Me and the hubs

Brandon and I drove down to Newport the other day during the boys' afternoon nap. It was pretty cold and windy but absolutely STUNNING. I don't think I've ever seen a pretty sunset on the East Coast, I only see the sun setting behind clouds and over buildings in the suburbs. This will have to hold me over for the next 6 months.



We've been going to the park a lot too, the boys LOVE the park!
We took them to the baseball field at the park too and got some really cute pictures. Here's Cullen:

Here he is again on the pitching mound

My boys in the dugout

Daddy teaching Jack how to swing

Home Run!

Rounding the bases with Daddy

Jack has been covering his face with one hand A LOT lately, I think he thinks he's playing peek-a-boo.

Jack with Grandpa

Rachel and I have been busy working on a crafty project to give as gifts, I can't post pictures yet though because I'm giving them to everybody on the O'Malley side. Rachel's pretty darn crafty, and I'm... not. But we had a lot of fun and I think they turned out really well. I'm excited to give them away :-)We also baked Christmas cookies and decorated them last night. We all teased Brandon about his ugly cookies, so he showed us up and made the best one!

And a silly picture of the boys playing with their new toy they got for their birthday.

Lately

Well, we lost our camera cord for a week so I haven't been able to blog, but we found it! What have we been up to this week? Well, last weekend Juli flew down to visit us, we had so much fun!
We made a big batch of tamales (15 dozen to be exact!) to eat on Christmas Eve. Rachel and I went to buy the supplies and we were the only white people in the store and the lady making the masa (who didn't speak any English) gave us the weirdest look when we ordered 20 pounds of it. I kept saying "veinte" but she was talking very quickly and gesturing, but finally a man standing next to us interceded and told her to just give us the 20 pounds. She must have thought we were crazy, since all of the real Mexicans were only ordering half as much as us, but she just shrugged her shoulders and gave us the masa. Rachel and I laughed the whole way home. Then we put on some Christmas music and spent several hours making the tamales. Whatever we're going to do with 15 dozen tamales, I certainly couldn't tell you, but we definitely won't go hungry ;-)
We also took the boys swimming, it was a little colder than it was last summer, but they still loved it!

Cullen just lounged around most of the time

Here's Cullen eating cereal on the kitchen floor.

Jack didn't want to put down his spoon, even while he was drinking his bottle, he had an iron grip on it!

Bathtime! They get soooo many baths at Nana's house.

Playing peekaboo with tupperware

Jack is getting really, really close to standing and walking. He can sometimes stand for a few seconds on his own if you help him to balance initially. And he just LOVES to walk up and down the hallway holding onto somebody's hands. Here are some pictures of him trying out his new skills.

Sometimes he gets so excited that he forgets to balance, starts waving his arms wildly, and throws himself backwards

Here he is standing on his own

Brandon flew in on Thursday night and I am SO GLAD he got out of DC before the snow started falling. Most flights have been canceled and the people stranded there might be stuck until after Christmas. I am just thankful that Brandon made it out in time, it would have been terrible if we had to spend Christmas apart. Thank you Jesus!