Fun times?!?

I started back playing tennis in January and my team made it to play-offs. Well, I really love playing competitvely and want to play as much as possible in the tournament but it definitely proves to be a logisticial nightmare! Lance has been working a lot lately which means evenings and weekends so this all day playing for the weekend and practice Thursday night is definitely BAD timing. Thankfully - So-So and Grandpa and Uncle Matthew watched the kids last night for us until Lance was able to get home at 7:00. Katie definitely made it difficult for them but they handled it like pros! She was screaming on and off the whole evening - especially when she is tired she just gets overwhelmed by people and unhappy that she is not getting her way (which is to get mom and dad's attention these days). They got to have the whole evening chaos experience last night - feeding solids right when we walk in the door, entertaining fussy babies for a bit before it's time to prepare bottles and feed the little squirmy, uninterested munchkins, change them into their PJ's while they are trying to constantly flip from front to back, and then off to bed. We spared our helpers from having to give baths - that might have just been a little too much for Katie Bug to handle! Big thank you to them for helping us out and for enduring little Katie's tantrum!

Tyler got from his belly (crawl position) to sitting on his own twice this morning. I think he has figured it out - not good for bedtime/naptime since he wants to do that constantly instead of sleep, but good for him that he can finally get unstuck - he was getting himself in a really painful looking position of one foot in front and one foot behind - ouch!

He did it!

Tyler has been trying for a while (very awkwardly) to get from his belly to a sitting position on his own. Well, today he did it! Pam went to get him up from his nap and was surprised to find him sitting in his crib. At first she was kind of startled, wondering who sat him up and how he got there, but very quickly went to get the camera to document it and of course found him back on his back. Oh well, maybe just doing it once will trigger some memory of how to do it in the future - not that I am all that eager to be chasing after two really mobile babies but he keeps getting stuck in odd positions in all of his maneuvering so I hope that he has learned how to get himself out of those tough spots. All of this moving around and learning new things really wears them out and they have gotten so fussy in the evenings - just plain exhausted (sorry Grandpa - but thanks so much for watching them for us tomorrow)! Pam did get some other pictures of them!

Tyler with his sweet smile and Katie refusing yet again to give a full smile.

Tyler laughing, looks like he is trying to show off his teeth. I am surprised that Katie sat this long without wanting the toy Tyler had!

The Zoo!

We celebrated Memorial Day by taking the kids on their first ever zoo trip! Obviously, they are a little young to fully appreciate all the animals but they loved strolling around and hamming it up for their grandparents. Tyler was probably a bit pooped since he was up all night! Don't know what is going on - teething, growth spurt, ear infection, milestones - but I really, really hope that this trend of waking at 10:00 and screaming until 2:00 AM doesn't continue! We finally gave in and said fine we'll just bring him on a pallet on the floor (since we were worried about having him sleep in the bed), but after about 20 minutes we realized that was a bad idea as he was rolling around and laughing and crawling and having a grand old time. He went back to his crib and yelled on and off for a bit longer and finally called it a night. Katie woke up a couple of times, but mostly she was just wishing he would be quiet. Maybe he was getting back at her for her stealing his toys all day - her new habit! Here are some zoo pics!

All of us at the zebras!

They were playing it cool, no smiles. Until they got to be in their grandparent's arms and taste ice cream for the first time!

We didn't make it to see the giraffes or elephants - they were just plain worn out. Maybe next time!
Katie wants to go again! When we go back maybe the animals will be as exciting as her feet :-)!

Big Kid Seats

We got the booster seats and so far so good! The only chairs we have in the house with backs on them like they recommend are the stools at our island so that's where they are. That will work for a while and the kids love having the little tray to bang on when their meal is done!

They are doing so good sitting and Tyler is starting to get up on his knees - I can't tell if he is trying to get himself into a sitting position or is closer to figuring out how to crawl, but either way it's new and he is awfully proud of himself when he does it! They are starting to enjoy their blocks and can pick them up and shake them, and throw them and especially chew on them and even better that we can now leave them sitting to play without having to worry too much about toppling!

Ready!

We're ready for the sun, now where is it!?!

Odd dilemma

As we realize that the days of putting the kids down on the floor and expecting them to stay put are coming to an end, I am beginning to seek out "babyproofing" items. Of course, one of the key things that we will need to get are gates - especially considering our hardwood staircase that is extremely vertical! My problem, though, is in trying to deal with our first "child" - Marley. She is almost 8 years old and is completely used to being able to go and do as she pleases. That means when she needs quiet time she goes up the stairs and into the closet where she has a blanket that she has worked to get in the perfect position. When she wants to eat, since she is on no particular eating schedule unlike our children and will NOT eat when someone is watching her, she goes to her bowl in the laundry room. When she is just curious about what is going on downstairs or upstairs or anywhere that she isn't she goes to check it out and often lets us know that a rabbit or cat or visitor of the human variety has arrived with loud and insistent barks (ok, maybe stopping her from doing that isn't such a problem). Anyway, with baby gates up on doorways and stairs, and to the laundry room so the kids can't get the dog food she will be trapped with us in all areas of the house. I have been looking at baby gates with pet doors, but then I wonder that if they are big enough for Marley than they will probably be big enough for a crafty baby. Hmmm, I guess the solution is to just make Marley deal with it. She can join in the frustration with Lance - as I imagine that he won't be too happy with the locks that I'm going to install on the toilets and cabinets :-)!

Cuties

Lance and I went out on the town last night, actually just to Corner Pub but that is a big night out for us, thanks to So-So and Lance's Dad. The kids are better, not getting super fussy right before bedtime, and were showing off their skills in the jumperoo and sitting. We had a great time just having dinner and spending time with some friends and are so grateful that the Grandparents watched the munchkins for the evening (and endured Katie's meltdown when her daddy left). The kids are just so darn cute right now as they figure everything out that we kinda missed them - I don't know what I am going to do when I leave them overnight for three nights in a few weeks! We got home and watched American Idol and I almost woke up the kids in my irritation over Adam and Kara. They both drive me crazy - Adam just because it is so obvious that the judges want him to win and while I agree that he is a spectacular singer I think Danny is just as good and I much prefer his style and could actually see myself listening to his music. I would watch Adam in a Broadway show, but that's it. Kara just annoys the crap out of me. I digress - can you tell I am addicted to that crazy show!

Tyler now has FOUR teeth all the way through!!! He isn't scooting backward as much but still not going forward - now it's more like circles! Katie is still content just to sit (very well) and chew on her outfit. She is really getting the hang of this babbling thing and can do it very loudly if she think she's not getting attention she deserves! Here are some pics from this morning.

Tyler showing off his bottom teeth, and that he can sit too!

I can't keep Katie's clothes out of her mouth! Katie would rather sit! Tyler is just so excited to be semi-mobile. Being stubborn, "I'm not going to smile if you want me to." As soon as I put the camera away the giggles start, of course.
He didn't stay on the blanket for long!

Mother's Day

It has been an awesome day, not because I did anything particularly special - I just am so grateful to be able to celebrate this year and to have my little miracles here and healthy. I honestly thought the day that I would be wished a "Happy Mother's Day" might never come, and today I just look at my beautiful babies and thank God that they are the reason for the well wishes. I truly am blessed and am just enjoying the day spending time with two of the sweetest, most precious munchkins ever born.

Lance let me take a nap (which was glorious), but I still had feeding duties. The give them a spoon experiment (supposed to keep them occupied while trying to get food in their mouths) didn't work out all that well! Lance couldn't resist "popping" Tyler's collar.

Playtime!

The kids are doing so good sitting and practice crawling. Katie is a much better sitter than Tyler, and Tyler is definitely better at moving from the crawl position. The official score now in the teeth department is Tyler 3 (!!!), Katie 0. I can't believe Katie STILL doesn't have any teeth, but I swear they are coming any day now. Tyler has one on the top that just sprouted through but isn't all the way in. It is so hard to get pictures now because they are so busy and that makes for blurry pictures but here are a couple that aren't quite as blurry as the ones we took right before they decided to wave their arms, screech and shimmy, or dive to their belly :-)!

I have the boppy behind her but she rarely falls these days! Tyler is a whole other story, that boy has bumped his head or rolled off of way more things than I want to count.

They love their new toy - they can't really put the balls where they need to go yet but they like the sounds and colors.

This is how they are with everything now - completely uninterested (in me at least)! Especially when we are trying to feed them - they think there are a lot more fun things to do these days than eat and feeding them has become a struggle.

They still love to smile at us to make us smile though, just in 5 second time spans.

Tyer is a backward crawling speed demon. I think forward is coming soon - time to babyproof. Makes me think we should have opted for carpet downstairs!

She looks SO mischevious, because she is!

Questions...

Ok, I have two questions for any moms who may read this blog since I am thoroughly confused. Everyone talks about the Britax carseat as being fabulous - why is it better? Amazon is having a sale right now for $60 off of those seats, but that still puts them in the $270 range - each. I know they can use these for a while but that still seems pretty high. I need to get carseats because I can no longer lift the carriers, and especially not two! If you have recently purchased a carseat or are using one that you love shoot me an email or leave a comment and tell me anything I should know - if I am going to spend $500+ on these things I want to make sure I am doing my research! Gosh, just typing that made me realize that we might end up spending way more than that since it would be helpful to have seats in both cars - like today I had to take the kids in to daycare since Lance had a closing (woohoo), but he is picking them up - what would we do then! Ok, not panicking, got some time, uh oh - these little boogers are getting more and more expensive by the day - good thing they are so darn cute!

I also think it is about time we stop feeding the babies in the bumbos but high chairs don't really work in our house since our table in the kitchen is pretty high and the table in the dining room is kind of low! Maybe it is just my particular highchairs - but anyway I am debating on buying trays for the bumbos so the kids can practice picking up food, their sippie cups, etc. or getting one of these -

I think the kids chubby little legs might be too big for a bumbo and tray combo and I think this would be good to still set them on the table for a little while and then eventually in a chair of our choosing or out to a restaurant etc. My dilemma though is that I don't want to be yet another contraption that doesn't get used. Case in point - I bought a bath safety seat that has been used exactly once! Part of the reason is because Lance likes using the tub on the counter and doesn't care that he gets splashed like crazy these days - it is worth it to him not to bend over the tub but it is still just another thing junking up our house that isn't getting used! The reviews on this booster seat are great but I don't know anyone in real life who actually uses it or something like it, or do I?

Party People

Marie and Liz took babysitting duty for us last night (THANK YOU SO MUCH) - I had an event at work and dragged Lance along with me. I think the kids did alright - Katie was a little pill but that was to be expected, she is not too keen on different people feeding her and putting her to bed for some reason. No worries though because Marie is akin to the baby whisperer and got her settled down enough to eat and go to sleep! She was probably exhausted because we also took them to a friend's 1 year birthday party yesterday. They did pretty good, but Katie just gets pretty overwhelmed in crowds - I don't know why since she does ok at daycare with the chaos but everytime we have taken her to a party or get together she kind of freaks out. I kind of get disappointed because nobody outside of us and family get to see her as she really is - babbling, happy and usually all smiles - when we are out she gets grumpy and clingy but like everything else I am sure it is just a stage.

They are sitting better and better each day and I think Tyler is on the verge of figuring out forward instead of backward. I think Katie is just watching him until he figures it out and then she'll join in - I think she'd just rather him endure the trial and error :-)!

Sitting!

These aren't great pictures because it is yet another rainy day and it is dark upstairs but you get the idea - they are sitting! They are doing so well, they only topple over if they decide randomly to reach out for something far away or turn to look at something (Marley) behind them but other than that they are doing pretty good sitting and playing with toys for a little bit - we still have to sit beside or behind them and be on guard but I can tell that soon they will be pretty independent sitters!

Just like the little man that he is, the remote control proved to be the great motivator in getting him to sit rather than stand!

Katie is doing pretty good - she sits better than Tyler because she isn't so squirmy but gets REALLY mad when she topples over.

Katie looking at Tyler the little backwards scooter. We tried to get him to reach out and grab a toy and he can reach but he still ends up going backwards. I am amazed at how fast he can get from one end of the room to the other just going backwards!