Park Pictures

We've gone to the park both days that we've been in California. The boys have been loving all the extra playtime!

An airplane flew overhead

This is the first time they've enjoyed going down the slide, before they always put their feet down to stop themselves

I know he's not doing anything interesting in this picture, I just think he looks so cute!

Jack got some sand in his mouth, yuck!

This is Dylan, the little boy who Rachel nannies for. He just LOVED the boys and kept giving them hugs and kisses every few minutes. We all just about died laughing at these kids!

We Made It... Somehow!!

My wonderful sister Renee came out last weekend and stayed with us for a few days. During that time, I felt like I had a nanny! She watched the boys all the time for me! I was able to do some shopping, run my errands, design our Christmas cards, pack, cook and everything else I wanted! It was fantastic!

On Tuesday, she flew with me and the boys to California for a nice long Christmas break. Flying with the boys has always been a little difficult obviously, but it certainly gets harder and harder as they get older and more active. This time was the worst by far. We are giving a bunch of baby equipment to my sister and brother-in-law for their baby so in addition to my bag, the boys' bag, the pack n' play, their two ginormous car seats, the diaper bag, my sister's bag, AND the double stroller we also brought a huge 50 pound duffel bag and one of the boys' old infant car seats to California with us because it was the cheapest way to get it to them. We must have looked ridiculous as we struggled through security with the boys and all our carry-on luggage. Our flight was an hour and a half late taking off so the boys were literally falling asleep sitting up as we were waiting to board the plane. Once on the plane, the first flight was great though because they slept the entire time. We had a layover in Chicago and just barely made our connection which was boarding as our other plane landed. We had to race to catch our flight and had no time to get any lunch, and I guess Southwest is one of the only airlines that doesn't have any sandwiches or food for sale on cross-country flights.

The boys were awake and overactive on the second flight, they wouldn't sit still at all. They were trying to touch everything, crawl around, and peer at other passengers. I'm really embarrassed to admit this, but they each fell off the seat once. Neither of them was hurt thankfully, I caught Jack before he hit the floor, but poor Cullen just tumbled right off before we could catch him. Ooops!! I am still waiting for Child Protective Services to show up at my Mom's house and take my kids away.

About halfway through, they got extremely bored and fussy. We spent a couple hours walking them up and down the aisle. And I think they must have gotten together and decided to hold their poop in for a few days and then let it all out on the plane. And, of course, even though they haven't peed through their clothes in months, Cullen peed all over himself and every single article of clothing he had on as I was changing his poopy diaper in the airplane bathroom. I had to take him out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a diaper and holding his sopping wet clothes. I had also forgotten to pack spare pants (Mom of the Year right here) so I just put him in a onesie and wrapped him in a blanket when we got off the plane. And my poor, pregnant sister endured 10 hours of traveling with two antsy 11 month olds, nausea and no food!!! What a trooper she was! We were both completely exhausted once we landed, I was SO relieved it was all over! But God was good to us and we made it through the long day. We've been recovering for the past two days and I somehow still feel exhausted!

Here are some pictures from our flight:

Cullen watching the airplanes

Jack

We flew over the Grand Canyon and we had the most incredible view of it!! It was breathtakingly beautiful!! These pictures don't do it justice

Jack loved looking out the window, he's just woken up from his 2 hour nap in this picture.

Brandon comes on Thursday and I can't wait to see him! He's been studying like a mad man for the past month, I barely laid eyes on him the last week I was there. I don't know how he does it, I would have totally burnt out long before finals, but Brandon just keeps plugging along studying 12+ hours a day. Words can't even express how much I'm looking forward to just relaxing with my husband during Christmas break. Law school is tough on both of us!

Thanks Grandma Sari!

I meant to post this a few weeks ago, but getting them to sit still long enough to take a picture of them with a blanket is next to impossible. Sari made the boys the cutest little quilts! They look sooo good too! Brandon thought they'd probably just bought them because they looked professional, but I said "No, your Mom's pretty darn good at sewing, I bet she made them." And she did! They are fantastic Sari, thanks so much! We all love them!

Jack all tucked in with his new blanket. (He likes to sleep with his lamb as a pillow too, isn't that funny?!)

Cullen with his blanket

Remember how I said they loved doorstops? Well here he is playing with it. It's a blur in the picture because he had just boinked it :-)

Hmmm... I wonder what Mom's hiding under there?

Reaching for the camera

11 Months

I don't know where the past year has gone, it's unbelievable that my boys will turn 1 next month! Here's all the new things they're doing these days:

*No idea how much they weigh, but I'd guess about 20 pounds. Cullen is quite a bit heavier than Jack again (maybe a pound?) and I think he might be just a tiny bit taller too.

*So much more hair! They're really starting to look like little boys and less like babies every day.

*They sleep from about 8:30 pm to 8:00 am. They still take 2 naps a day. The first nap starts around 11 am and lasts for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Their second nap is usually about an hour and starts around 3:30 or 4 pm.

*They eat 3 big meals a day (at around 9, 1:30, and 5:30) with a bottle before each nap and before bedtime. If they're fussy in the afternoon, they also have a snack.

*They are both standing up and 'cruising' (walking by holding onto furniture). Their balance is getting much better. I often notice that they're barely touching the furniture for support. They'll just keep a fingertip or two on just in case, but are mainly balancing by themselves.

*They also finally learned how to lower themselves down. For a few weeks they'd stand up and couldn't figure out how to get down so they'd just stand there screaming until I went over and helped them get down. At first I did it gently, trying to teach them how to do it. After a few weeks though, I just hooked their belt loops and pulled them down so they'd see that it didn't hurt to just plop themselves down. Neither of these approaches really worked, they learned how to slowly squat down in their own sweet time.

*They're getting stronger and stronger. They've pulled down the baby gate several times this week. I just ordered a new one that mounts to the wall with screws and has a swing-open gate so I don't have to climb over it every time I go into the kitchen. I was so happy with my free gates at first, but now I think that $30 is well worth the extra safety and convenience for us all.

*Cullen's two bottom teeth are almost entirely in. Jack's have broken the surface and are coming in too. They both have started biting me, though. I try to pull them off and give them a teether instead, but they prefer my knees and ankles. I'm just glad they are late teethers and didn't start until after I had finished breastfeeding ;-)

*They eat SO much! I can hardly believe their appetites! For breakfast they often eat an entire banana and a cup or two of Cheerios... each! We took them to IHOP a couple weeks ago and they each ate 2 1/2 pancakes. That was as much as I ate... it scared me a little bit! If it's spaghetti night, there's no stopping them, they'll eat nearly a full adult serving.

*They are also sporadically picky about food. Sometimes they'll eat broccoli or green beans just fine, other times they'll flat-out refuse it and throw it on the floor. I usually melt cheese over green vegetables and they used to love it, but not so much anymore. Does anybody know why this is?

*I've been trying to teach them a few baby signs for the past few months, but no luck so far. Although, I'm sure by now they must know what the signs mean, they just can't do them themselves. I've only focused on 4 signs: food, drink/bottle, more and all done. At this point, they like to ask for more by hitting their trays and yelling and they signal they're all done by swiping all their food onto the floor or looking directly at me and dropping it one piece at a time. Ummm, aren't they too young to be defiant?

*They also like to dramatically tear their bibs off and toss them on the floor. Sometimes I hold their bibs on and try to distract them but other times I just roll my eyes and let them get messy. At Thanksgiving dinner, our hosts had their little girl in something called a 'Pelican' bib, I think. That thing was fantastic! It was like plastic baby armor with a big pocket at the bottom that caught all the dropped food. I've definitely got to get some of those!

*They aren't saying any words or anything, but they have definitely picked up on the 'rhythm' of conversation. Their tones, the rise and fall of their voices, their pauses and starts, everything makes their jibberish sound almost like real words. I often copy what they're saying and I think they can tell what I'm doing because their eyes light up and they'll say more to see if I'll copy them again. I can't wait to see what their first word will be! I bet it will be 'Dada' because they already say that. I think it's only a matter of time until they're pointing at Brandon and saying it.

*They like to wake up and shake their crib rails violently to let me know they're awake. They'll also start talking to the other one, trying to wake him up.

*They still aren't pointing with their index fingers but they do sort of gesture with their arms sometimes. They also clap alot, though I'm not convinced they only do this when they're happy about something. They don't really wave much either, I've only seen them do this a handful of times. I'm not surprised, though, because they've been late doing most of their motor skills. They always catch on eventually though and then there's no stopping them.

*Whenever Cullen gets excited, he starts kicking his legs and twirling his feet around like crazy. We've started calling him "Happy Feet" because of this habit. Jack's so much more chill, he usually just gives smug little smiles.

*Cullen also does this monotone yell whenever he's headed somewhere, as if he's announcing his presence. I can usually tell whenever he's going into the bathroom or kitchen or some other 'off-limits' area because I hear him yelling 'AHHHHH' on his way.

*They totally have inside jokes with each other, they're always laughing together about something. One of them will be holding a box of cards or a pen or something and he'll just look at the other one and they'll both burst out laughing. I never get it, I feel like the third wheel ;-)

*They like grown-up things much more than their own toys. Some of their favorites are cell phones and remote controls (of course), Daddy's laptop, pens/markers, cameras, the vacuum, doorstops (they love the sound it makes when they pull it- don't worry I superglued the little white caps onto them all), the cat food bowls, shoes, and whatever book Mommy happens to be holding.

*I let them hold toys while I'm changing their diapers or dressing them. They still squirm alot but it's about 1000 times easier now.

*They still don't really have separation anxiety but they do cry sometimes when either Brandon or I leave even though one of us is still sitting right there next to them. They also cried for the very first time last week when we left them with a babysitter and went to see New Moon. We waved goodbye and shut the door and all of a sudden we heard two loud wails as we were walking away. I feel guilty saying this, but I secretly enjoyed it!

My Favorite Time of Year

We had a fun Thanksgiving this year, it is so much more fun now that we have kids, I love sharing holidays with them! I kicked off Black Friday a little early by going to the drugstore and getting several things (including a pair of headphones!) for completely FREE!! What a great start to the day! Then my best friend Renee came over to help me cook. A couple from our church invited us and a few other people over for Thanksgiving dinner. I was in charge of making the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. I had never made a green bean casserole before, but I just followed the normal recipe and it turned out great (it may have helped that I doubled the amount of french fried onions on top!). I also made the Barefoot Contessa's parmesan smashed potatoes. They're to die for, I make them every few months. I would make them more often but they're not exactly healthy or low-fat, so I limit myself.

Anyways, together Renee and I made the potatoes and green beans. Brandon watched the boys and got them dressed. Then we packed everything up and headed out. The boys took a nap as soon as we got there but they woke up about halfway through dinner. We had brought along their high chairs so they were able to eat with us and, man, did they LOVE the Thanksgiving food! Jack especially, he was smacking his lips and making noises the entire time he was eating. They both ate turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and bread. Later, they got to try some pumpkin pie too. I think that might have been one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I was sitting on the couch eating some pie. They were standing up and holding onto my knees, so I gave them each a taste to see if they'd like it and after that they wouldn't leave my side. They were practically hyperventilating between bites and kept bouncing up and down yelling for more. Everybody in the room was laughing at my little beggars! We had a great dinner and enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with friends from church. If you can't be with your family, I think that's the next best place to be!

We couldn't stay very late because the boys had to get to bed, but we squeezed in a quick skype call with each of our families before bedtime. During the call, all 4 of us worked off the majority of the calories we'd consumed earlier. The boys did it by frantically crawling and flinging themselves toward the laptop trying to touch it and Brandon and I by trying to restrain them from doing this. They ripped a key off once before (luckily it just snapped back on) but now they're determined to tear apart the entire keyboard and slobber all over the screen. They don't give up either!

On Friday, I woke up early and hit up some Black Friday sales. I will think twice about this next year though because I realized you can't just 'sort-of' shop Black Friday. Either you're up at 4 am breaking down the doors with the crazies or you might as well just not go until Friday night or Saturday. I got to Target at 6:30 am and it was already cleaned out. I wasn't expecting to get any of the 'doorbuster' deals of course, but I was hoping to get just a few things at a good price. There wasn't much by the time I got there, though. I ended up leaving with 2 $3 movies and 3 cheap tank tops for myself. I overheard a woman ask one of the employees about the $3 appliances and he laughed in her face and told her those were gone within 3 minutes of the store opening. I also tried to hit up Walmart but ended up leaving with nothing at all. They had set up a police barricade with no less than 6 police cars inside. I had to walk around the back of the store to enter the 'line' (which was empty at that point but I still had to walk through it to get to the entrance of the store). Once inside, I really only wanted some half price pajamas for the boys. But those were gone of course and it was so crowded that I didn't bother looking for anything else.

Renee met me at the outlet mall where we had much more luck... and fun! I bought a ton of cute clothes for the boys at the Children's Place (which I'm convinced is hands-down the cheapest place to get new kids clothes. I regularly get shirts there for $0.99 and pants for $5 or less.) I also got some cute belts and tights for myself at Banana Republic where the entire store was 50% off. And I bought a skirt and sweater at H & M. Is it bad that I got more for myself than anybody else?

On Friday night, we drove out to a farm about 30 minutes away and bought a Christmas tree. We only got a small one because we'll be gone for most of December but I really wanted to get a tree for the boys' first Christmas. Here we are with our cute little tree. It was freezing that night and very windy, poor Jack and Cullen didn't know what to think. It was definitely the coldest it's been all year, it was the first time they'd even had to wear their jackets.

We turned on some Christmas music and decorated our tree. Jack was fascinated with the lights and kept trying to eat them.
Here's the tree all decorated. Miraculously, neither the cats nor the boys have broken any ornaments or knocked the tree over yet. The past 2 years, our cats have just absolutely destroyed our tree. This year, they're mostly leaving it alone and I'm soooo glad! Maybe Brandon's stern discipline last year has paid off!


And here are some other funny pictures from the weekend. Cullen found a brownie that was inside a sealed Ziploc bag in my purse. He somehow opened it and ate some of the brownie before I realized what he was doing. He was pretty pleased with himself.

And here are our little beggars back in action :-)

Jack took the movies out of the shopping bags for me. I guess he wanted to watch Elf?

Thanks Brandon!

So my husband was kind enough to take time off from studying on Saturday afternoon and take me to see New Moon! Definitely not the way he'd choose to spend 2 hours of his life, but he loves me and does nice things like this for me! We both liked it better than Twilight and despite the cheesiness and bad acting, I just can't help myself, I totally love these movies! It's my guilty pleasure! And I'm not ashamed to admit that at all!

I can't wait for Eclipse, it was my favorite of the 4 books! I hope the movie is at least decent! And just for fun, here's a picture of the two monsters I created (my little sisters) at the 12:01 premiere on Thursday. They camped out in line for SEVEN HOURS!!! Crazy girls! They are literal "Twi-hards" :-)

Friday Outing

On Friday, I drove with the boys to meet a friend in Annapolis. She had recently moved to Delaware, so we just met in the middle for lunch. It was SO beautiful there this time of year, I love that little town! I wish I were a photographer so I just walk around and take pictures of quaint little towns ;-) We parked right by this cute little college campus, it looked like it was right out of a movie.

This is just one of the many trees we saw there, it was gorgeous! Seriously, this picture doesn't do it justice, the colors were so vivid! I'm not sure if I've ever said anything nice about the East Coast before on my blog. There aren't a ton of great things to say, but there are a small handful, so here goes: the trees here are out of this world! Seriously, there's nothing like them on the West Coast! I hate summer here because of the humidity, and the winter and spring are so cold and stormy that I don't like them either. But I do love the fall! The weather is pleasant for the most part, there are a lot of crisp, fall days (my favorite!) and the trees are gorgeous! So there, that's one thing I actually do like about the East Coast.

After a yummy lunch of crab cakes, my friend and I walked up and down the main street and window shopped. I also bought some fudge. And took a few pictures of the boys.


My friend is 38 weeks pregnant and she wasn't feeling well while we were walking, so she headed home early. I still had the entire afternoon open, so I stopped by Renee's new house on the way home. She lives in Maryland near her school, so it's about 45 minutes away from us and I've never made it to her house before. She baked a sweet potato for the boys to eat for dinner and made me an Oregon Chai latte (oh man, I can't wait for Christmas so I can get one every single day!!!). Then, all of a sudden, she turned to me and said, "Kimmy, I really want to take you guys to my lab so the boys can chase the robot around!" Renee's a research assistant to a professor and they build autonomous robots and flying mechanical insects (seriously! like right out of old-fashioned spy movies!). Definitely not something I hear everyday, but that's exactly what we ended up doing! Jack seemed a little unsure about a robot running around him and just kind of eyed it warily, but Cullen loved it! Of course he did, his favorite activity is chasing our cats around, why wouldn't he love chasing robots?

The goal is to eventually get the robot to be autonomous and see an obstacle and turn to avoid it without a human having to tell it to turn. It's not quite there yet, though, so Renee had to chase it around and make sure it didn't run into the boys. This was almost as funny as watching Cullen chase it! And, of course I was worried the whole time that the boys would slobber on it or pull out some wire and that we'd owe the University of Maryland a few million dollars, but thankfully, they didn't break it. Anyways, my camera died right when we got there, but I got a really short video just so you can see what the robot was like.



My best friend and I live in different universes now, she is in grad school studying aerospace and creating robots that think by themselves and I'm a stay-at-home mom. For some reason, she still likes me, though, and isn't completely bored with me yet. I think my super cute and hilarious kids may have something to do with it! Regardless, thanks for taking us Renee, it was really fun!

Dinner Time

To make up for not posting for so long, I took some super cute videos of the boys tonight eating pasta! I had made baked penne for dinner and the whole family loved it, especially the boys! I think this might be one of Jack and Cullen's favorite meals. Too bad it's so messy and Mommy doesn't let them eat it very often!




Here they are after they'd finished. They obviously went straight into the bathtub!!

Cookie Monsters

I usually put a towel under them when they're eating sticky, messy things... but Daddy's not as strict ;-)

I swear, I cleaned up my house no less than 3 times yesterday. So why does it still look like this at 8 pm??? (This picture doesn't even do it justice because what you can't see is the huge pile of food underneath their high chairs, the trail of crumbs leading to their bedroom, the scattered socks and bibs that they've taken off and left around the house, the cat food and water they spilled in the entryway, the stack of coupons they pulled out that I had to refile, the 2o or so books they pulled off the bookcases, and the 3 channel changers they've hidden in drawers somewhere). And don't even ask to see their bedroom....



I apologize for the lack of blogging recently. There's been no time for that in the past couple weeks because I've been completely occupied with chasing two wild animals around my tiny apartment and trying to keep them alive. They are crawling, standing, 'cruising' around on furniture (Jack is at least), and want to get their hands on anything and everything they possibly can. I swear, they're not happy until they've pulled every last item off the coffee table, have ripped up all the magazines, pulled all the books off the bottom two shelves of both bookcases, opened all the cabinets and drawers and emptied them, and slobbered on and then hidden the channel changers and cell phones. I can no longer organize my coupons around them because I have 4 arms simultaneously reaching for the scissors, pulling the coupons out of their slots, and ripping up the ads.

They are also hell-bent on getting into the bathroom and kitchen, which are off-limits. Every time the gate or door is open they make a beeline for the forbidden room. I usually carry them out one at a time, but by the time I've got the second one out, the first one has run back in. I have started either placing the first one across the room and sprinting to get the second one out and the gate closed before the first one makes it back in, or just carrying one and dragging the other one out by his foot (which they think is just hilarious, by the way).

Changing diapers is a challenge to say the least, I've started changing them on the floor and holding them down with my foot so they don't squirm away. And getting pants on those kids? Nearly impossible! It's like trying to put pants on a screaming octopus. I'm seriously out of breath after I dress them.

Life is so crazy around here and I'm usually drained of all energy by the end of the day. I'm learning what I can and can't do around them anymore and trying to readjust my schedule so I get the cleaning and couponing done while they're napping/revving up for the next round of playtime. But this was the time I used to blog in, so there's less time for that now. But I'll try to be better about it this week!

Any Sewing Ladies Out There?

For the past few months, I've been really wanting to get into sewing but I've never tried before- with the exception of the time that Renee and Shauna and I tried to sew skirts one summer in college. I think we ended up with a zipper that was longer than the skirt itself and we had no idea how to sew it in... so we gave up pretty quickly.

I want to learn how to use a sewing machine but I think I'll have to teach myself. I know that Michaels and Joanns offer sewing classes but I doubt I'll be able to attend any since I don't really have anybody to watch the boys. So I'm thinking about buying a sewing machine and just practicing and teaching myself how to do it. But I need help, so if you've ever sewed so much as a button onto a shirt, please leave a comment with some advice!

First of all, I don't know what kind of sewing machine to buy. Any suggestions of a good, basic machine for beginners? Preferably it would be super easy to use and teach yourself on.

Also, what's a good way to start. Did you all just jump right in and start making curtains or something? Or should I just get some scrap fabrics and practice sewing in a straight line first? How hard is it?

What kinds of supplies should I get? Do I just need the machine and some thread? Or are there other things to buy?

Once I get the hang of it, what is a good easy project for a beginner to sew? What kinds of projects did you all start with?

Thanks for any advice and suggestions, I really appreciate it!

What is happening?

In less than 3 weeks, these guys have started crawling, standing, and now are practicing walking. This is all going waaaayyy too fast, please slow down!!

Jack with his walker


Jack riding his bike


(Both these videos are Jack; Cullen hasn't quite gotten the hang of pulling up by himself or taking steps though I daresay he'll be following in Jack's footsteps very shortly.)

Leaves

Today was very productive for us (especially considering that most days I don't even step outside the apartment). Brandon went to work late today and then went straight to class so I left the boys with him and ran to Target and Trader Joe's this morning. I got some great deals at Target too! After Brandon left for work, I cooked some sweet potatoes and squash for the boys. We ate some of it for lunch along with some cheese and leftover chicken. I bet they wish I always fed them that good!

After lunch, we walked to the library to vote (Virginia has random election years) then to the grocery store to return a DVD and then over to the park to play in the leaves. The boys had so much fun and I got some cute fall pictures- win, win!

There aren't many things I wouldn't do (to my kids) for free Chipotle.

Somebody started a small kitchen fire on Halloween so we had to eat our free burritos in the car. Jack had fun pretending to drive the car while we ate. Cullen was snoozing in the backseat.