It's Been A Week!

It's been a long week over here.  Nothing major really happened, but between work and home I'm pretty worn out.  I'm really hoping our summer slow down is finally happening at work, it was slightly better this week.  I found this floating around facebook and it totally cracked me up.

I totally got chewed out by a lady this week because we didn't inform her that she was out of refills.

 The boys have been alternating between absolutely adorable and little stinkers getting into everything.  More so adorable though.  Tuesday Owynn woke up from his nap early before Oliver so we snuggled on the couch and watched some cartoons.  Too soon though I had to get up to make dinner, so he settled himself into my spot on the couch to quietly watch cartoons while waiting for Oliver to wake up.  He is surprisingly good about not trying to wake Oliver up when he's sleeping.

Owynn all comfy in my spot

 Wednesday we stopped at the grocery store in the morning before my late shift and I picked up a 2lb package of strawberries (yum!).  I didn't have time to clean them and cut them before work and the boys weren't too happy about that.  When they woke up from their nap they snuck into the fridge and ate one bite out of almost all the strawberries, then put them all back.  Awesome.  Friday Owynn  went up to Oliver, gave him a big hug and kiss, and said in his little toddler voice, your my best friend Oliver.  OMG cutest thing ever!!!

Friday was also my Mom's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mum!  I really wish we could be out there to help you celebrate, we miss you a lot!  I wish I had some pics of me when I was little on my computer, but I don't right now.  That's a big project for much later.  So here is one from our trip last year.

Happy Birthday Mum, we love and miss you!

I Used to Think I Had Lots of Patience, Now I Have Toddlers

I used to think I had lots of patience, really now I'm not so sure.  The boys are almost 2 1/2 now and pretty typical toddlers.  I feel like all I ever say is no.  "No no no no NO!", "Shut the Fridge", "Don't touch the trash", "Stop jumping on your bed", Don't climb on your changing table".  I'm trying to do my best as a parent, but I find myself wondering sometimes if I'm doing everything right, am I yelling too much?  I can't be the only parent who feels this way right???

Don't get me wrong, the boys can be total sweethearts.  Owynn now says "I luf you" which makes my heart melt.  Oliver really loves hugs and snuggles.  And they are pretty darn cute.

So not the most current photo, but I love this one. Oliver and Owynn their first Halloween 2011.

 

 

But then there are days like today where I was counting down the minutes to nap time, hoping that after they get up they will be in a better mood.  (Owynn didn't nap and is quietly hanging out with us in the living room playing with his kindle fire.  Oliver is sound asleep, he really needed it.) 
Or yesterday; the boys woke up and instead of going into the living room and turning on the tv or getting out their kindles, they decided they needed to raid the pantry.  They dumped corn meal all over the carpet in the living room.  Dumped out my baking soda on the kitchen floor, along with onion soup mix, yeast, and other baking supplies I keep in there.  They also got into my little baggie of hershey kisses I had saved from my baby shower that said "It's A Boy", which were almost 3 years old, there were bits of wrapper everywhere.  The boys also got into the birthday candles, we're hoping they didn't eat any of those.   
Or the day before yesterday.  They pushed Oliver's bed up against their dresser so they could reach the stuff on top.  They got down a small bottle of lotion and got it all over Owynn, Oliver's teddy bear, and the bed.

I've been told by other parents of multiples that things don't necessarily get easier, just different.  I can see that, but I'm still really hoping this stage will get a bit easier.  

Learning To Walk

I recently re-found a video we got of Oliver as he was learning to walk, just after he turned 1.  I can't get over how much they have changed!  We don't have a cute video of Owynn learning how to walk unfortunately.  He would practice walking in his room when he didn't think we were watching.  He actually started walking on our trip to NY last Easter.  One morning while we there I was changing his diaper and he just took off.  Owynn pulled himself up on the couch, turned, and slowly started toddling toward me.  He stopped just out of arms reach, gave me his mischievous smile, turned, then took off in the other direction!  And that was it, he decided he was ready to walk and hasn't stopped since.  We do have this video of Oliver though.  He took his first steps at their first birthday party.

Big Boy Beds: Update

The boys have been in their new beds for about two months now.  They have been enjoying their new freedom a whole lot.  It has been a challenge though trying to get them to stay in bed at night and especially at nap time.

Nap time right now is the hardest.  They still need a good nap every day, but they have decided that naps are over rated.  It just depends on the day and how tired they are, if they wind up napping.  If they don't nap they usually will play in their room for a couple of hours.  But on no nap days we usually end up with two very grumpy toddlers and Oliver like this during dinner:

Oliver asleep during dinner...again

Bedtime is a bit easier.  We still have to go in and tuck them in a few times before they finally fall asleep.  It usually takes them close to an hour to finally wear themselves out and fall asleep.  Tonight went quickly though.  They didn't nap, were exhausted, and John sat in their room with them until they fell asleep.  Which was a very welcome change from Saturday night when the boys decided that jumping on their beds was a good idea (it was in fact a very bad idea.)  The boys sleep in the same bed just about every night now.  Owynn likes his space, but Oliver always winds up in bed with Owynn one way or another.  I have found though that they sleep much better when they are together.  Owynn used to wake up around 3am every night, but he rarely does anymore.  They also are able to comfort each other better this way.  Occasionally Owynn will wake up crying and 90% of the time Oliver will comfort him and they will fall right back asleep without one of us having to go in to tend to them.  Plus they are super cute snuggled up in bed together!  All in all making the switch to toddler beds hasn't been nearly as bad as I had feared. 

Owynn and Oliver

Oliver at the top and Owynn.  I don't know how Oliver managed to get into bed with Owynn like this without waking him up.

This night was a struggle.  They are both asleep, with Oliver literally on top of Owynn.

Oliver and Owynn.  Owynn declared my socks were his, took them off my feet, and put them on his.  He slept with my socks on over his jammies all night.

Owynn and Oliver

all photos are property of doubleotwins.com

It's Time for Big Boy Beds!

John had to change the boys' cribs into toddler beds on Friday, much sooner than we expected to.  When I went to get the boys up in the morning Oliver was in Owynn's bed!  I asked John if he put Oliver there and he said "noooo..."  Uh-oh.  We have their cribs next to each other with about a 2 foot gap between them.  John watched Oliver at nap time Friday pull up on the edge of his crib and slide across into Owynn's.  We had been hoping to keep them in their cribs longer, but apparently they have other plans.  I suppose it's about time, they just turned 2.  Right now I am very very happy that when we bought their cribs we had the foresight to spend the extra money and buy two nice, convertible cribs.

The first two nights went pretty well.  Friday night we tucked them in like normal, and they were up and out of bed in just a few minutes.  We put up a gate in their door way to make sure they didn't get into anything if they got up in the middle of the night.  They played for about an hour before the novelty started to wear off and they went to bed.  They wound up in their own beds and tried to cover themselves up with their blankets.  They woke up nice and early, but they stayed in bed all night without a fuss.  Yay!  Yesterday we spent the day over at John's parents doing laundry so the boys didn't get a nap, so they were pretty worn out by the time bedtime came along.  Oliver fussed just a bit , and they wound up on the floor in front of the gate nodding off.  I tucked them back into bed and they slept just fine all night.

Nap time today has been a different story.  We put them down for a nap about an hour and a half ago and they have been playing pretty nicely in their room since.  So I guess I'm glad there hasn't been any fussing, but there definitively hasn't been any sleep yet.  I expect to have two grumpy toddlers tonight.

They were pretty darn cute the other night, here are some pics!

Owynn

 

Owynn, Mommy, Oliver

Oliver

Owynn and Oliver

    

all photos are property of doubleotwins.com

Why Does He Put Food Up His Nose?!

I don't know why Owynn insists on sticking food up his nose.  I don't understand the appeal of it.  I've blogged about our previous adventure here and here.  Sunday before we went to the birthday party he stuck macaroni and cheese up there during lunch.

Well last night at dinner he must have thought it would be fun to stick as much corn up there as possible.  (Seriously, why???)  I pulled 4 kernels out fairly easily.  But I was still pretty sure there was more up there, so off I went in search of the flashlight.  Found it, (crap it's dead), pray we have enough of the right size batteries, (score we do!)  I look up Owynn's nose and sure enough there is at least one more in each nostril (this can't be comfortable).  So I go and find a bulb syringe and manage to suction them out.  At least he doesn't mind his nose being suctioned.  I grabbed the flashlight and there are even more stuck in each of his nostrils! (WTH kid!)  At this point I'm asking myself, why this? Why now? Ugh!  So I call my mom for some advice, then I have to hurry up and get the boys into bed, because John has a shift he needs to work.  After more talking to my mom I finally decide to call the on-call doctor, because after googling I've seen way more than I need to about kids getting infections and aspirating their food and I've become completely paranoid.  The doctor said that because I've pulled out so much already and there's at least one piece in each nostril I should probably bring him into the ER to be checked out just in case.  Crap crap crap crap crap, I really don't want to be dealing with this right now.  So I wake Owynn up (he's not too happy with me at this point), put on his coat, shoes, and mittens (ok he does look pretty darn cute), grab his teddy bear, and off we go to the ER.  They got us in immediately, thankfully we live in a small city with several hospitals so we've never had a wait.  Owynn was weighed, 27.4lbs yay!  He had his temperature taken and his pulse, he cried pretty hard over those (at this point I am really glad I remembered to grab bear).  Owynn was looked at by the doctor and there was no corn that he could see. *Sigh* At least I feel better now, somewhat.  The doctor said it was very unlikely he aspirated it, it probably made it's way into his throat and he swallowed it.  He did say to keep an eye on him though just in case.  And if he starts having like a mega runny nose out one side that isn't from a cold, that means the corn is still stuck waaay back in there.  It may come out on its own then, but if it doesn't then we would have to bring him back in.  Joy.

So I bring Owynn home and give him a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter fudge and some milk.  He loved the fudge, he was making his happy food noises while eating it.  I love when he does that.   I change his diaper and jammies, he says night night to Daddy, then goes over to his door and says "bed!"  Ok little man it's time for some sleep.  By this point it's around midnight and I am totally wiped out from the day so John and I head to bed too.  Ugh, is it Friday yet?  I can't take much more this week.

Work has me stressed beyond belief, but I keep telling myself I definitely should not post an angry rant about work, even though I really really want to.  K mini angry rant, they messed up my paycheck this week and I am 4 hours short.  That is a lot of money to me people!  This on top of everything else, I keep wondering when I am going to hit my breaking point.  Friday can't come soon enough.  I have moved from constantly repeating that I love my job, down to I appreciate the fact that I have a job, because right now I most certainly do not love it. 

We Made An Apple Pie!

A few weeks ago I came across my special pie apples at the store, woohoo!  It isn't very often during the fall season that I come across these particular apples.  So when I find them I buy them pretty much immediately and bake them into a super yummy pie.  I will only use McIntosh or Cortland apples for my pie.  According to my mum, the pie expert, those are the best kind of apples for pie.  You can find these apples all over the place in New England where I grew up, but in the Midwest, well not so much.  So to me it's a pretty big deal when I find them.

After buying a bunch of Cortland apples and everything else I needed at the store, I was ready to bake a pie!  As you can see from the photos I used a Pillsbury pie crust.  Mum advised me that even though I could make my own crust, and she has before, the Pillsbury is pretty much just as good and a whole lot easier to work with.  I love things that are both yummy and easy!  Although she did say, don't buy the off brand, it's worth it to buy Pillsbury.

The boys "helped" me make the pie, they were pretty cute, and we all had a lot of fun.  The boys enjoyed eating apple pieces while I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples.  Oliver helped me out with the pie crust and throwing stuff in the trash.  Owynn held the measuring cup while I measured out the sugar.  Owynn kept sticking his fingers in the sugar and eating it, he really enjoyed that!  Then while I was spooning the filling into the crust the boys kept stealing apple slices out of the pie.  They really had a fun time helping me with the pie.  I really loved it too, and it brought back memories from when I was growing up "helping" my mum bake apple pie.  Our pie turned out absolutely perfect and was super delicious!  It did not last very long here.

Oliver and Owynn.  Please ignore my messy table.

Oliver

Owynn

Our delicious finished apple pie

Owynn really enjoyed eating his pie!

Oliver refused to smile for me.  Eating apple pie is very serious business!

 

Random Tuesday Thoughts A Few Days Late

Brought to you by Stacy

I called the Dr's office right when they opened on Monday and thankfully they had an appointment open at 4:30. Perfect! I was able to leave work a few minutes early, rushed home to pick up John and the boys, then off to the Dr's office. He didn't find anything left in Owynn's nose, and told us what to look out for just in case. Poor kiddo, he even had a little bit of swelling in his face because of all the veggies he put up his nose.  We're supposed to bring Owynn back in if he develops a fever over 101 or starts to smell. He described it as not just normal bad breath, but a smell like something had crawled up in there and died, awesome.  Although the Dr. did tell us some funny stories about stuff he has found up other kids noses.  I didn't feel as bad after that.  So far so good though!  Both boys got their flu shots finally, and they weren't too happy with us.  Owynn got his first, and so when it was Oliver's turn he started whimpering when the nurse was rubbing his leg with alcohol.  I felt so bad, the poor kiddo knew what was coming.  After finishing at the Dr's office we drove by the new Chik-Fil-A, and it was crazy busy! The parking lot was full, and the drive through lane went around the building and almost out to the street.  We were pretty bummed we couldn't stop for dinner, especially John.  I felt pretty bad too, normally when we go up to see the Dr and the boys get shots we all go out to eat as a treat before heading home.  But we are flat broke at the moment and couldn't afford to.  

Work has been getting better thankfully.  It amazes me though the stupid questions I get.  Monday morning at 7:30am I get a call from a guy wondering if his dr. had approved his refill, uh no not yet,and then well why not!?  Maybe it's because you called in your rx at 7:30pm on a Sunday and with it being only 7:30am on Monday, your dr's office has yet to open.  They don't have magic elves that just approve prescriptions over night.  I nicely explained it to him, but honestly people! Please think before you call me and get all upset.  My favorite question I get though is "When will my dr call you back?"  Really? 1- I don't work for your dr's office. 2-I am not psychic.  I think it's kind of on par with "What time is the 3 o'clock parade?" at Disney.  Some days I have a hard time turning off the sarcasm at work.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is in a week.  Where has the fall gone?  Pretty soon John's brother will be coming for a visit during school break, then Christmas, then just 3 weeks later the boys will be 2!  This time of year always seems to go by too fast.

At the dr. Monday Owynn got to stand on the big scale! He is 25lbs now.  Oliver decided that since Owynn got to stand on it, then he needed a turn too, he is 28lbs now.  They are getting so big!














 

We Made A Ball Pit

Owynn and Oliver

Owynn and Oliver

Owynn and Oliver, what goobers!

 

Owynn and Oliver

Oliver

Owynn

During the summer I was having a pretty frustrating day with the boys.  So to contain them so I could finally manage to get something done, I turned the pack n play into a ball pit.  They boys had a ton of fun and my frustration melted away.  How can you be upset at this cuteness?  We got this idea from the one class we took while pregnant, about parenting multiples. 

all photos are the property of DoubleOTwins.com

I've been absent for a bit. Can't. Stop. Watching.

I've been pretty absent from the internet in general for the past two weeks.  We discovered Once Upon A Time on ABC.  And we couldn't stop watching, thank you for Netflix and Hulu.  We watched all 22 episodes of season 1 and are mostly caught up on season 2, we just need to watch the episode that aired on Sunday.  I am both happy and a little sad to be caught up.  I'm happy to be caught up, but at the same time I can't watch multiple episodes back to back, now I have to deal with commercials, and worst of all I have to wait an entire week for a new episode!  The show is the story of all of your traditional fairy tale characters, but they have been brought to our world by a curse from the evil queen from Snow White.  They live their new lives in Storybrooke, Maine with no memories of their fairy tale lives, and it's up to one person to break the curse.  We are totally in love with this show now!

In other news, we need to take Owynn to the Dr. Monday afternoon.  He decided that instead of eating his veggies Saturday night, he decided he should stick them up his nose.  Ew!  I pulled a pea out Saturday night, then he sneezed out a kernel of corn.  I thought that was it, until Sunday afternoon he sneezed out two carrot chunks.  Oh man, now I'm worried that he has more food shoved up there.  I called the on call doctor who told me that it's not an emergency, but he needs to be seen to make sure there isn't anything else up there.  I can't see this being a pleasant visit.  Oh well, we needed to go up to see the Dr. anyways, it's past time the boys had their flu shots.

Hopefully your Monday will be better than mine, and that Owynn doesn't have any more food up his nose!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

brought to you by Stacy

We completely messed up our sleep schedule yesterday, but man my nap was nice.  I got home from work just before 5 and we put the boys down for a nap soon after.  They weren't too happy about Mommy getting home from work and then putting them down for a nap though.  John and I were pretty worn out so we decided to take a "quick" nap too.  Ya, so that totally didn't go as planned.  We woke up at 9:30pm and the boys were still sleeping! Crap!  So the boys didn't actually go to bed until about 12:30am and I think I managed about 2 & 1/2 more hours before having to get up for work in the morning.  I am doing surprisingly okay right now.

Work has been crazy busy and the grumpy customers have been out in force.  Which I am sure will get even better since they just cut our hours (ugh! Please note the sarcasm here).  I love this video, and seriously this stuff actually happens way too often.  I have literally dealt with everything in this video. 

I am pretty positive I am going to get stuck working the late shift on Halloween and I am pretty bummed about it.   I am hoping to have a Halloween themed weekend at least.  I want to make Halloween shaped frosted sugar cookies.  I have my Mum's homemade sugar cookie and frosting recipe, they are so incredibly good.  I also want to carve a pumpkin or two.  We did this every year growing up and I haven't done it in a long time.  Now that we have the boys I want to start carving them every year.  I always loved it growing up.  It should be lots of messy fun!

Hopefully this week will get a bit better.  Tomorrow is payday and time for more budgeting, that always gets me depressed.  Happy Tuesday, at least the weather here is gorgeous! 

We Had A Productive Weekend

We had a great weekend!  Friday was jeans day at work (yay!)  It was crazy there, and I was so happy to finally be done.  Saturday John's parents took the boys all day.  They went out for lunch and to the mall, and had a really great time. 

Oliver

Owynn

 John and I ran to the grocery store all by ourselves!  I have to admit it felt a bit weird, but it was nice to go someplace alone.  We spent the day with football on in the background, cleaning.  Exciting huh? But it is so much easier to get stuff done without the boys trying to help.  My goal of the day was to completely clean the boys' room and switch out all their outgrown, and summer clothes for bigger, winter clothes.  I managed to get most of it done (yay me!) I pulled all of their outgrown clothes from the dresser and the closet and packed about 90% of it away.  I also reorganized the changing table and dresser.  I put some of their winter clothes away, but I still have a lot left.  I went though everything and pulled everything out from underneath their beds (apparently Oliver is a toy hoarder).  I don't have too much left to do, and their room looks a lot better, and is way more organized now.

Sunday we spent the afternoon at John's parents doing laundry and having a good time.  We had lots of fun playing outside in the gorgeous fall weather.  It really felt more like summer today, it was in the upper 70's.         

Owynn and Oliver

  

Owynn

Oliver

all images are property of doubleotwins.com

Beginning Potty Training

I've been generally leaving the when of potty training up to John since he will probably end up with the brunt of potty training.  He's home with them every day, and plus they're all boys and Mummy doesn't have those parts.  We have one pretty basic straight forward potty seat.  We pulled it out today in hopes that the boys may be interested in it and to try to get them used to it before we really dive into potty training.  Well interested in it they were.  They fought big time over who got to sit on the potty seat.  They yelled, pushed, shoved, and cried big tears about who was sitting on the potty seat.  I have never seen them fight like that, it was definitely not the reaction we were expecting.  Apparently we are going to have to get a second potty seat sooner rather than later, because sharing one just is not going to work.  At least they are showing interest in it though.   

The Terrible Twos Are Almost Upon Us!

In just 3 & 1/2 short months the boys will be 2, I can hardly believe it!  And I can already start to see "The Terrible Twos" approaching.  The boys are slowly becoming more independent and trying to deal with all those crazy emotions they have.  One of Owynn's favorite words is "Mine!"   This morning he took a book right out of Oliver's hands, declared it "Mine!", and then lays down to read it.  (Well look at it, they aren't quite reading yet.)  Though Oliver is by far the bigger drama queen of the two; he's always been that way.

They are good at letting us know what they want, and then letting us know how they feel if they don't get their way.  Owynn insists on having naked time while I am getting them ready for bed, and is very upset if he doesn't get to run around that way for at least a few minutes before I put his jammies on.  They like to do things for themselves now too.  They help me get them undressed, and also put their shoes on and take them off.  The boys insisted on coming into the bathroom with me the other night, and while I was in there Owynn threw a bunch of their bath toys into the tub and then tried to take off his clothes.  He wasn't too happy when I said it was already past their bedtime and would take a bath this weekend.  

The boys are pretty good at sharing for the most part.  They do tend to fight over a single toy if they both want to play with it.  Although if one of them takes a toy from the other, we tell them to give it back to their brother, they usually do what we ask but you can tell they aren't too happy about it.  The one thing they refuse to share now is food.  Although, if I hand one of the boys two of something, they will bring the second one right over to their brother.  They each have to have their own now.  Like bananas, I used to be able to feed them one banana together, now they absolutely insist on having their own.  When we give them donuts (they think it's the best food ever!) they really want one to eat by themselves.  Unless they are in their highchairs and I am in the mood to deal with that giant mess, they usually just end up sharing one.

Stick with me here as I go off on a brief tangent to share some of their cute donut eating stories.
Sometime around the beginning of the year we had an almost empty box of a dozen donuts sitting in the laundry basket, on top of some clothes, with the whole thing sitting on top of the couch.  I went to the bathroom for like 2 minutes and I came back to find this:

          

(I love Oliver's face in this photo, he's the one in the background behind Owynn.)

A couple months ago John brought home donuts for everyone, and then was feeding them to the boys.  They boys got so happy and excited about having donuts that they came running over to me and gave me giant hugs.  John was like hey where are my hugs? 

Just last week John brought home some donuts.  I got them out and showed the package to Owynn and his eyes got HUGE and he just started SHAKING all over! OMG donuts, I am soooo excited! (Is what I imagine he was thinking).    

The boys are starting to throw tantrums already.  Oliver freaked out today when I tried to put him in his car seat (both going to and from the store).  Then when we got home he didn't want to go into the house.  He laid down outside the door and threw a fit.  Owynn seeing what Oliver was doing, then laid down and started copying his brother. Ugh!  On our way up the sidewalk I asked the boys to hold hands to keep them from running all over the place (this by the way is the cutest thing EVER) and when Owynn let go to climb up the step to the front door Oliver also started crying.  It really didn't help today though that they were both past due for nap time.  I have to say though, they were very well behaved while we were shopping in the store.  *knock on wood* and I am about to jinx myself here, there haven't been any breakdowns while grocery shopping.  I did take the boys to Barnes and Noble by myself last weekend, that did not go well.  That was my fault though, by the time we made it there after our other errands, they were very tired and ready to go home, and I didn't have the stroller with me.  

Overall though, the boys really are very well behaved.  But I can see the "terrible twos" creeping up on us, and will be here before we know it.  They are growing up so fast!

Holy Baby Talk Batman!

Apparently Owynn has decided he is ready to talk, because all of a sudden he is saying new words left and right.  Before he could say:

All done
More = Mo
Mama
Dada
Drink = Dink
Cracker = cracka
Mine

In the past WEEK or so Owynn is now saying:

Grandpa = Papa
Please = Peas
Door = Do
Hot = Haw
Cold = Co
Poop = Poop poop (he sounds adorably like Poof from the Fairly Odd Parents)
Hi
Bye Bye
Night night = Nigh nigh

When asked what a kitty says he says Maaaooow
When asked what a doggy says he says Woof woof
When asked what a monkey says he shakes his finger and says tsk tsk tsk (which is what the monkeys do in one of his favorite books, Caps for Sale). 
He also now holds his finger up to his lips and says Shhhhh (which he picked up from The Monster At The End of This Book).

Owynn is also working hard at saying his letters, he can say a few.  Dr. Seuss' ABC book is the favorite of both boys, we read it several times a day.  Our board book copy is pretty beat up already, it's been chewed, bent, and had food spilled on it.  I actually bought it while I was still pregnant with them.  When they get a bit older I plan on buying it in a normal paper page book.   

Oliver isn't saying nearly as much as Owynn at the moment, but he is further along in other aspects.  Oliver has gotten really good at climbing up and down the stairs upright holding the railing.  He loves numbers, we count things like crazy now.  He also is pretty good at figuring things out, and catches on really quickly.  The other day I asked him to bring me a diaper and he found one, but it was underneath his highchair (we use the small chair top ones).  He tried to pick it up but couldn't.  He stood there for a minute looking at it, then picked up his highchair and moved it, then brought me the diaper.  He knows how to work a smart phone, and knows what the mouse, mouse pad, and keyboard are for on the computer.  On my phone I have a radio app and a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic sound bite app.  He can turn on my phone, slide the screen saver up, and navigate around to find exactly what he wants.  He knows what button turns on my in-laws TV, he also knows how to do it at home too.  Home is a bit more complex.  In the morning he will turn on the tv, the receiver for the sound system, then go and get the clicker for the cable box so either John or I can turn it on.  When we are getting ready to go out, Oliver will go up to the entertainment center and turn off both the tv and the receiver.  He is one smart cookie.

I find myself comparing the two of them probably more often than I should.  I have to remind even myself occasionally that even though they are twins, they are two totally different people.  They are fraternal twins which means that they came from two different eggs.  So they are like any other siblings, they just happened to be born at the same time (well you know, 2 minutes apart).     

18 Month Check Up

The last weekend in July I took Friday off and enjoyed a nice long weekend.  Friday we all went up to Omaha to see the Dr. (s).  I made four appointments back to back and hoped that my Dr.’s weren’t too delayed.  We go to a small office in a new addition at one of the area hospitals.  I know my OB is always late, so I scheduled her appointment last.  All four of us see one primary Dr. (who is amazing by the way) so when I schedule us multiple appointments (3 that day), they usually just put us in the big exam room together and see us all at once.  Thankfully everything went as planned and I made my second appointment with my OB on time (yay).    

 The boys were there for their 18 month check-up.  They are doing well; Owynn is still slowly but surely gaining weight.  With everything that boy eats I’m amazed he doesn’t weigh more.  He normally eats more than Oliver, we just can’t figure out where he puts it all.  Owynn is 21lbs 16oz and 30 ½ inches long (he’s 2 & ½ feet tall!) Oliver is now putting good distance between himself and Owynn at 24lbs 13oz and 31 inches long.  If Oliver keeps growing at this pace he’s going to be fully in 2T clothes by Christmas.  My boys are getting too big too fast.  I did bring up to the Dr. that they aren’t really talking much yet.  From what I read this age is the time where they start picking up a lot more words and the really just aren’t.  The Dr. asked us if they “talk” to each other, and they do, A LOT.  He said because they are twins they essentially have their own language and can understand each other, so to them there really isn’t much need to be able to talk yet.  They boys say a few words, like Mommy, Daddy, all done, cheese, cracker, and some more they are working towards.  The Dr. told us not to worry, they are “talking” to each other and they understand pretty much everything we say to them, they will talk eventually.  And if for some reason they haven’t started talking much more by their birthday, we will talk about it some more then.  Owynn didn’t handle the visit very well; he cried the whole time the Dr. was looking at him.  Oliver on the other hand did amazing, not only did he not make a peep, he actually toddled over to the Dr. and asked to be picked up.  He sat like such a good little boy on our Dr.’s knee while I was talking to him about my stomach stuff. 

My stomach is still being stupid, but lately it’s been a little less so.  I’m still getting motion sickness way more than I should, but I haven’t had a random episode recently.  Since all my tests have come back normal so far he is going to try me on a new acid reflux medication and see how I do.  I also saw my OB who gave me the green light on another pregnancy whenever we are ready.  That didn’t really do much to help my baby fever, which I still have and still needs to go away. 

After our appointments we went out to lunch at this really yummy sandwich shop called Which Wich.  We shouldn’t have spent the money on lunch out, but after a day spent at the dr. and the stress of everything that has been going on lately, I decided we needed it. 

Every time we go back up to Omaha I find myself missing our little suburb we used to live in more and more.  Even though it’s about 45-60 minutes from our family and friends, it is such a nice town.  It still has a small town feel even while developing quickly.  Eventually (several years from now) we will have to decide where we want to settle down (i.e.: buy a house, which we WILL make happen).  John pointed out to me yesterday that here a house costing $124,000 with a 30 year mortgage at a full percentage point above the current rate would cost approximately $596 a month before adding in any extras to the financing.  That pretty much blew my mind, why was I thinking we’d be paying like $1,000 a month for a home???  Here’s to hoping that in 5 years we will actually be looking at buying a home.

Toddler Communication

The boys have been trying to communicate to us more and more every day.  Today Oliver kept going over to John then going over to the front door and banging on it, back and forth several times.  So John got out the stroller and took the boys for a walk.  I met up with them right after I got off work and it seemed like everyone was having a good time.  

We spent Sunday at P&W's house playing poker with some of our good friends.  There were two other little kids there about a year older than the boys.  Oliver kept trying to talk to the bigger kids all day.  He was babbling on and on to them in what seemed like full baby sentences.  Oliver knew what he was saying and he was trying to get his point across, just no one else could understand him.  It's pretty darn cute to listen to him talk.  He will just go on babbling about who knows what, but he's pretty insistent about it.  We think that he is going to start saying real words soon.  It's about time, they are 16 & 1/2 months old now.  Right now they mostly only say Dada and Done.  We are working on Cheese.  Owynn only says Mama when he is really tired or upset.  Otherwise I am starting to think that I am just other Dada. 

Owynn has been super adorable lately.  His new thing is he likes to try and sing.  He hums when he is sleepy, and when he gave me a hug today.  He also likes to sing along to music.  I wonder if he will be musically inclined when he gets older.  Owynn loves to dance, drum on everything, and now trying to sing.

I am can't wait until they can talk and I can actually understand what they are trying to say!