Best of Both Worlds

No, I'm not channeling Hannah Montana, I'm just thinking of how lucky I am to be able to work for a while and now I get to be a "stay at home mom"! I really liked going back to work. I love my job, and although I missed my boys, I got to spend the day with some pretty cool kids. I kept busy (boy did I ever!) and got to see some adults for part of the day. The first week back to work was pretty rough - I was really tired from my new routine, and wanted to take a nap when I got home which was neither possible nor really that tempting because I wanted to play with my kids even more.
And now, I get to stay home all day with my boys! We just finished our first week and had so much fun! Luke had a busy week. He started rolling over on Sunday, and hasn't stopped since! He can roll back again, but sometimes lays facedown crying until someone helps him (we don't leave him too long, but we do let him try by himself first). We have noticed that when we are a little farther away, he will roll around on his own, but when we're close, he'd rather not have to work so hard. What a little stinker!
Andrew is not rolling yet, but primarily wants to stand anyway and has caught onto his brother's trick about crying to get attention. We will hear screams coming from him and look over and he'll be smiling at us. Luke's been doing that for months, now Andrew is catching on. Needless to say, it's pretty noisy around here lately! They are both to the point now where they want us to watch them jump in their toys and they love being praised. They get such proud looks on their faces - super cute!
Also this week, the boys started eating oatmeal for breakfast. Guess who loved it right away? Luke was making sounds like "yumm yumm" - he probably wasn't saying that, but it sure sounded like it and it was really cute. Andrew wouldn't open his mouth the first day, but now on day 5, he smiled the whole time!
I think it's time to start "real" foods too. According to everything I've read, you shouldn't start until babies are around 6 months old, but we're only a week away and last night Adam and I were eating and Luke was sitting in his high chair (Andrew was sleeping in the swing) and the entire time we ate, Luke was smacking his lips. It was so sad and funny all at the same time. I wished I could feed him something - he was watching us so closely, and just smacking away. So, we're starting with fruits and vegetables this week!
I have this wonderful device that my mother-in-law got for me. It's called a Beaba and it's a steamer, blender, and defroster all in one. So far I've made carrots and green beans in it. We had extra and instead of letting them spoil, I cooked them and made them into ice cubes of vegetables, so now we have poopsicles (frozen prune juice), carrotsicles and beansicles in our freezer! So back to my Beaba. It's really easy to use, you just put water into the steam chamber, turn it on and it turns off when it's done. Then you either dump out the water or save it to puree the food in (depending on nitrates - for example carrots have nitrates - don't puree in the water - but green beans don't - yes, puree in the water). Then I pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. When it's frozen I put the cubes into baggies, label them and they're ready to go. Each cube is about 1 oz. of baby food. When it's time to eat, I can either thaw the cubes in the microwave or put them back into the Beaba with a little water and defrost them. So, yes, I'm making my own baby food - it's easier, healthier, and cheaper. What could be better than that?
Back to our first week home. We went on 2 outings with just Mom and the boys! The first one was to Erica's house to play with Grant and have lunch. I started getting Luke in his carseat at 10:30 and by 10:50 we were all pulling out of the driveway. Only 20 min. to load both babies and get them out to the car (plus I had to get the stroller in the car). We got to Erica's and she made me a good lunch, the boys enjoyed terrorizing all of Grant's toys, while he played quietly and watched it all go down. Then Luke and Andrew ate and took a little nap and all 5 of us went for a walk with the strollers around Erica's neighborhood. It was fun and it went well and we were home by 2:30. Then on Friday, I had to run to my church in Big Lake and I hauled the boys along. That was even easier, and the boys did great in the car. I hope I can get out some more with them now that they're a little older. We just need places to go! It's pretty hard to go grocery shopping with them because once they're in the cart, there's no room for anything else. It's hard to take them to a restaurant because there's not much room for 2 highchairs near any table. It's hard to take them somewhere their stroller won't fit, because there is NO WAY I can carry those 2 lugs (who are 16 and 17 pounds last time we checked!) plus their bulky and heavy carseats... So, I'll be waiting for invitations!
P.S. Pictures coming soon...

Summer's Almost HERE!!!

And I can't wait!
I have one more week of school, and then I get summer vacation!! I've had a very stressful couple of weeks at school. If you don't know, next year I'm switching jobs - not really switching, just moving to the high school and birth to 3 program (half of my time spent with each part). I'm pretty excited about trying something new, but I've had so much paperwork to finish and organize before I move on! Plus, I'm packing up my classroom, and that's quite a task in itself! So I've been busy. I've also been gone a lot in the evenings and I feel really guilty about missing time with the boys, but the end of the school year usually comes with many activities - parties, golfing, running club random mystery prize drawings, more parties.... One night I came home in time to help feed the boys and put them to bed, and I asked Adam what happened when I was gone. He told me that Luke's in college now, and Andrew got a job. Very funny. What REALLY happened was even funnier. Luke and Andrew lay on the floor together and like to look at each other. It's really cute. They'll grab each other's clothing, arm rolls, eye sockets, whatever they can get their hands on, and laugh at each other. Well, they were laying on the floor looking at each other, and Andrew started crying all of a sudden. Luke was pinching him and laughing at him while he was crying. Oh boy! Here we go - already picking on each other (but I bet it was pretty cute in a mean sort of way!) Enough with the words, get to the pictures... Here's some new pictures of the 5 month olds!!

Luke

Andrew

Luke wearing his hat

Andrew with his hat too

Babies watching American Idol - no I'm not kidding

Mom and Andrew

Dad dressed Luke - no I'm not kidding :)

New Pictures

Just a few new pictures of the boys...
We've been busy as you can see:

Luke's spinning on his back

The boys are looking spiffy

Luke is sleeping with Dad

We've been reading books.

Luke found a new friend.

He loves his cow.

Such Big Boys!

Adam and I were reminiscing about just how fast our boys have grown. We were remembering when we thought they would never stop making those goat noises (preemie noises - the nurses called them). We thought they would never sleep through the night, and that drinking 4 oz. in 30 minutes was a record (very fast eating, that is)! I know, I know, they are only 4 months old, but really, we've come a long way. Here's a look back at when the boys were 1 day old: Lucas and Dad

Andrew and Mom

(look how big my hand looks - and if you know me, you know I have the hands of a 5 year old)

The boys had their 4 month appointment today, and the doctor was very surprised at how well they are doing! They have developmentally appropriate skills on par with other 4 month olds, which is HUGE because they are technically 2 month olds (adjusted because they were preemies). They are on the regular kid growth charts and are on the low end of those charts, but are WAY off the preemie charts!! They had their shots today, which was sad, and are now sleeping it off, so I had time to put some new pictures up to show just how big my boys are!


In their Bumbo chairs.
They are getting better at head control, and are even sitting up without help (for about 1 second). :)

Luke and Mom
I do miss the extra naps the boys took when they were newborns. Here is a picture of Luke during "naptime". He refuses naps most of the time.

They are practicing standing and Grandma Judy got them a new toy. It's a Johnny Jump Up, but Luke thinks it's for eating.

Andrew likes to stand all day long, so here is a picture of him standing (not jumping) in the new toy. He did do a couple of twirls, though!

Oops! Andrew likes to eat it too. Hmmm, notice a pattern??

So with our boys large appetite and the doctor's orders (ok, suggestion), we reached a new milestone today.......

Eating rice cereal like big boys in their shiny, new highchairs!!

Luke of course was pretty good at eating.

Are you really even surprised?

Andrew was a little more reluctant.

They both had a few spoonfuls of cereal, and seemed to think that was ok, so we'll try again tomorrow! What they really like is sitting up at the table with mom and dad. They'd hate to miss anything! Gee, remind you of anyone?? :)

What do you do with a 4 month old??

Today the boys are officially 4 months old! So you ask...what do we do with them all day now that they're awake most of the day (and Luke REFUSES to take a nap)?? Here's what we do...

We make them look at each other.

This is really cute - they've started noticing each other and smile and laugh at each other and try to talk to each other.

We go for a walk outside in our NEW JOGGING STROLLER!!!

(Can you tell I LOVE my stroller?!)

(Adam loves the cup holders...hmmm)

We read books.
Isn't Andrew cute listening to his story??


We take a bath.

Our boys love to be nude at any time of the day. If you start taking their clothes off, they start giggling and smiling. It's too funny!

We put them to bed.
After they've eaten, of course.
Luke looks like he's never missed a meal, and he never has!

In other news, I am running a 5K in June with my sister-in-law. Yesterday she sent me this along with an email stating that we have 9 weeks before we have to run. So, now I'm on Morgan's training program. I did manage to get my 25 min. walk/run in last night (refer to jogging stroller picture), and did more walking than running. Did I mention that I haven't really exercised in over a year?? When we were trying to get pregnant, I stopped working out hard according to my chinese medicine book and balancing my Qi. Then when I got pregnant and found out I was having twins, I was told not to even walk for exercise due to my "high risk" status. Plus, when I was in the hospital and stuck in bed all day :( my muscles started to atrophy, causing me to lose weight in my 3rd trimester. So, needless to say I really need to get going on the exercise front! I am weaker than I've been in a really long time! Enough with the excuses!!

STTN!

For those of you that don't know what that means it is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!
And that is exactly what my two angels are doing! It all started a couple of weeks ago, when Luke was sleeping until 4:00am without needing to eat, then it was 5:00am. In the past 6 nights, he has slept until 5:00 (or today - 5:45!!) for 5 of them! Andrew was another story, he was still getting up at 1-2am every night, and Adam was getting up to feed him (insert wicked laugh here "hehehe"). Now for the past 4 nights, he has been sleeping until 5:00 when Luke wakes up!
I'm hoping not to jinx myself here, and I don't expect that this will happen from now until the end of time, but if I can have a few nights a week like this, I will be a happy girl!

New Pictures!!

I know. I haven't had a chance to put new pictures up, and I can't figure out why this thing underlines for me all the time, so deal with it! I have had a long week - it was my first week back at work, and although the kids have been extra super nice (they realized how good they had it, I think!) I'm still extra super tired. So, on Sunday, here I am in my pj's at noon (oh, I've been up since 6:30) typing on here so I can tell you about our first week. First off, the boys are officially 3 months old (as of last Sunday). They are 13 and 12 pounds (guess who's heavier) and are the same height. They had their last RSV shots last week, so we're covered for the season and here they are on their 3 month "birthday":

Now you can see how tall they are:What a cute frog!

And a scary shark! (I'm gonna eat you for mine supper :)

Grandma Judy is coming to play every day (well babysit) and she's been playing dress up and photographer with the boys. :)

They're so cute - how could anyone resist??