traveling

My frustration with posting this particular blog entry has hit a maximum level, and since I don't have time to fuss around with formatting the pictures (again!) I'll leave it how it is right now. You just want to see pictures of the boys anyway, right?

So, traveling. Oh, man, we sure are! Luke is "crawling" around on his stomach and can get into EVERYTHING. He especially likes the air vents in the floor. He can pull them out of the floor. Yikes! When he's not crawling, he's rolling. He also started hanging onto the bottom of the swing - like he's doing a circus trick. He's very talented AND he has another tooth (yes, #5). Do NOT let him bite you - it hurts!!

Andrew is rolling around too, but he's a little more laid back (lazy), and doesn't go too far too fast. He prefers to push himself around backwards on his tummy. He has no teeth yet, but they are coming - he is a drool machine and last night (in a fit) he bit me with his gums and that hurt! I'm glad there are no choppers in there. (Yes, my kids have fits - especially when overtired.) Andrew still could stand all day, and he's starting to blow raspberries or at least try - it's really funny!

We have been gone for the past 3 weekends. We were up at my parents' on the 4th of July, then we went to help Adam's parents the following weekend at their lake, and finally last weekend we went to visit Auntie Amy in Duluth. The boys are good in the car. If they wake up they don't really cry, they just make a lot of noise to get some attention. Luke has perfected the fake cough (then he looks behind him to see if anyone's looking) and Andrew likes to scream as loud as he can. At this point, I usually crawl in the backseat to entertain, and the three of us fall asleep for the rest of the trip. I think Dad likes it that way - everyone quiet!

So, here are some recent pictures of our daily trials and travels:

Northwoods Confections

I brought the boys to my old work. This is the candy store where I perfected my flabby physique back in college - chocolate ALL DAY?? Why, sure, thank you! Luke is in the backpack. He doesn't look very comfy, but he was almost asleep the whole time. My back was sweaty, and my shoulders hurt...if you wanted to know. :)

The 4 of us by Lake Superior.
When we left town Adam said "We are those people I HATED in college. Those idiots taking pictures by the lake and driving around looking for a parking spot"
Yes, we are THOSE people.


Ooh, lift bridge, boys. (They didn't look.)

VISITING G & G L.

Taking a dip in Grandpa Don and Grandma Judy's lake.



On the pontoon.
Andrew was driving with Grandpa. Luke was sleeping. Both of them hated the life jacket situation. They had crabby looks on their faces the entire trip.

Luke's idea of a nice boatride - eating and falling asleep. The poor kid had no neck in that lifejacket!

Relaxing in the hammock.

BACK HOME

Below: The First Toy Fight.

Luke is mobile and also grabby. He will roll/crawl himself to Andrew and steal whatever he has. We have doubles of most toys, people, and often Lucas has the same toy - he just wants Andrew's too!

But don't feel bad for poor little Andrew. He is not so innocent.

Here he is after he stole Luke's blankie - right out of his arms!

Don't let the face fool you...

My life has just become REALLY crazy.

busy, busy, busy

We've been busy. Adam and I were busy last weekend celebrating the 4th of July with our annual party at my parent's lake. We were trying to figure out how many years we've been doing it, and have no idea. I think it's been at least 20 (making me REALLY old!). It's also the weekend we celebrate my dad's birthday, my aunt's birthday, my uncle's birthday, and 3 cousins' birthdays.
On Sunday (my dad's actual birthday), we helped my parents move all of the "big stuff" out of their house. That was a little sad, but very exciting because they are building a new house closer to the lake. I was reminiscing all weekend - alone, because no one would reminisce with me - about playing here and there, writing on the walls (sorry about that!), and remembering my childhood in that house.
The boys have been busy, too! The Sunday before the 4th, they had their first "photo shoot" with their auntie Morgan. She took WONDERFUL pictures of the boys that you can see here if you want to!
Luke is busy rolling all over the house, chewing on himself and his brother (which Andrew does NOT like), and just overall demolishing things :). Luke is using his 4 teeth to rip toys and put bite marks on most everything. He will roll over anything in his way - including Andrew, who doesn't seem to mind.
Andrew is rolling one way, then gets stuck. He is perfecting his "goo" sound and his screaming. He'll scream as loud as he can and then look over at us. We can't tell if he's looking proud that he can scream or sheepish like "whoops, that was loud" - it's a surprised kind of look and it's really cute.
Other than that, I'm just enjoying being home for the summer! I'm not really thinking about next year quite yet - denial works wonders! I will have to think about it soon because my new classroom is full of old flashcards that I'm allergic to (yes, nerdy, I know) and I have to figure out a system for storing my high school and birth-3 things in the same room.
Oh, someone's getting hungry - gotta go!

finally some peace?

Tooth count: 4-0. Yes, Luke has all 4 front choppers. When it rains it pours for that kid I guess! Hopefully he'll start feeling better now as opposed to the really weird all-of-a-sudden screaming his head off thing he's been doing the last couple of weeks. Plus, the air feels much nicer today, and maybe we can get out for a walk (if it doesn't rain...it looks cloudy...).
Andrew has not even a smidge of tooth coming that we can see, but he has been chewing on his hands a lot lately....here we go again!! That's one of the tricky things about these 2 guys, Luke does everything first, then when he's accomplished whatever he has done, Andrew starts!
This weekend we didn't do that much. The boys tried green beans. Luke didn't like them, but he'll eat them (sounds so much like his mom!) and Andrew gags and screams at me until I stop feeding them to him (sounds so much like his dad!).
Andrew did learn how to drink out of a sippy cup this weekend and he LOVES that! I read somewhere to try to give 6 month olds a cup (which seems so young) and basically teach them how to drink out of it. It didn't take long and Andrew is drinking liquid out of a sippy cup, bringing it to his mouth independently and sucking on the spout. It's so cute! Lucas, on the other had, threw his sippy cup on the floor 4 times, so I stopped handing it to him. We'll try again later.
Yesterday, my brother and sister-in-law came over to see the boys. Morgan took the boys 6 month pictures and they turned out SO CUTE (from what I could see on her camera), so I'll be posting those sometime too!

rollin'

Now we have two rollers, tooth count is officially 2-0 in favor of Luke, and everyone's a little crabby today. I am a little crabby because I stayed up WAY past my bedtime. I went to Singin' in the Rain with my family last night. It was fabulous, but I didn't get home until midnight! The boys are crabby because they had shots - 6 month shots! - yesterday and I think they're still feeling the effects. Plus, Luke cut his second tooth yesterday and has had a pretty rough couple of days... Poor kid.
It's times like these I wish I had a much bigger lap or arm span at least...

a few of my favorite things

If you know me, you know I love my cloth diapers (which are getting washed right now as a matter of fact!). I found something that makes my cloth diapers EVEN BETTER!! For all you CDers - this is a must-have! Flushable Diaper Liners!
These are papery liners that come in a roll (mine are from Imse Vimse), and were $11.60 for 2 rolls of 200 sheets per roll (on jilliansdrawers.com). Me, being the cheapie that I am, have cut them in 1/2 and use one half sheet per suspected poopy diaper. Once the boys have done their business for the day, I'm done using them for the day. So, I put this little paper in the diaper between the tushie and the diaper and it catches the poo! (maybe tmi?)
Not only do these fabulous little papers make clean up a breeze, they are also flushable, biodegradable, safe for septic systems and there is virtually NOTHING on the diaper! My diapers smell better and are SO much easier to clean up!
I thought I'd list some other of my favorite baby things right now:
Beaba (duh - told you about this before)
Hotsling (Luke aka "crazy guy" falls asleep within 3 minutes of being put in this thing)
Jumper (Luke can almost launch himself right out of this!)
Swing (Andrew's favorite place to sleep)
Black garbage bag (put over the window in the boys' room so the light doesn't wake them up at 4:45am!)
Is that enough for you to look at today?


P.S. One more thing for you Mom's trying to learn about cloth diapering. Go here for more info and an inexpensive trial!

houston, we have a tooth

Wow. Last week was a rough one. Luke was screaming and wouldn't take a nap most of the days. Wednesday was about the worst, and at one point I called my mom who said "I've never heard a baby scream like that before." So, he was in pain. I tried everything; teethers, frozen washcloths, cold washcloths, my hand, and nothing was helping so I finally broke down and gave the kid some Tylenol. I don't use medication much, so I'm trying not to give it to my kids unless absolutely necessary, and this was ABSOLUTELY necessary. After a half hour, he felt better and sure enough, the next morning, his brand new shiny tooth was visible! He has 4 more that seem to be coming in, so we'll see what happens next!
Andrew on the other hand has no signs of teething yet. Not surprising, he's been exactly 2 weeks behind Luke from the beginning, so I'm sure they'll come soon!
On another note, in my attempt to be "green" I bought a giant jug of vinegar to use for cleaning. So today, while reaching for my trusty comet and rubber gloves (I need the gloves because I hate cleaning with chemicals because I always think I am inhaling them or inadvertently ingesting them and for about an hour after cleaning I ask Adam if he thinks I'm going to die because I ate poison. He humors me and tells me I'm fine - what a good guy to put up with a crazy lady...) I noticed my jug o' vinegar and decide today is a good day to try cleaning my sink with baking soda/vinegar/lemon juice.
I found this site that tells how to make natural cleaning supplies, and although I am interested, especially since soon I'll have crawlers (yes, Luke is close to crawling already!) and I don't want them to get chemicals in their little bodies.
(Ok, up onto my soapbox for a second: I strongly feel that many health issues that we deal with on a daily basis are linked to chemicals, pollutants, preservatives, and other great inventions that have become widely used in the past 30 years. I look around at the kids I work with with autism and developmental issues and undoubtedly those would still be prevalent, but to what degree? Would so many kids have these concerns? I look at MANY of my friends who have difficulty getting pregnant (myself included) and wonder how this can be such a problem for young and otherwise healthy women? Ok, off soap box.)
Back to my story...Baking soda worked GREAT for scrubbing stains! It actually worked better than my Comet. I scrubbed the sink with a half of a lemon I had leftover and it smells terrific! I'm sold! I'll just have to try some other mixtures now...

pictures as promised

We've been so busy around here just doing daily things and I can't believe how much these guys are growing up! Luke is rolling, everyone's eating and Luke started sitting up, too! Here are some new pictures of the crazy kids:Andrew fell over in this position - getting ready for senior pictures, I guess!

We were laughing really hard.

Luke putting on a show for Andrew.

This picture defines them better than anything: Lucas has an audience and Andrew is perfectly happy to comply. Does it sound like anyone to you?

(It's the same relationship their parents have :) )

All of the guys on the couch

Cute outfits, don't you think?

He sleeps (thank goodness!)




Playing together... only Luke steals all the toys...

Andrew

Playing together again

(I tried to get them both to smile)

Andrew's favorite: hugging his blanket in his swing

Luke's favorite: jumping like a crazy man and drooling

Look who can sit! (It's Luke)

We are just having the best time getting to know these two boys! Can you believe that next week they'll be 6 months old!?! How did that happen?? Seriously, sometimes I look at them and wonder where my tiny little babies went. (sniffle) They grow up so fast! (sniffle)