Busy Weekend!

Well, it's Friday! I am usually pretty excited about the weekend, because obviously it means a couple of days off work but also because I get to spend some time with the kids. This weekend, however, I am a little nervous about! Lance is on his guys trip this weekend and that means I am on my own. In some ways it is easier than before - they can hold their own bottles, they can play on their own while I do things like prepare their dinner or get the bathtub ready. They are good at wrapping their legs around you and can both be carried up the stairs at the same time much easier now. But, some things are much more difficult. They can't be left alone for even a minute without getting into trouble of some sort which means changing a diaper leaves ample time for troublemaking for the other one without some advanced precautions like utilizing the pack and play, taking one out of the bathtub and leaving the other just can't happen so trying to corral two naked babies is a nightmare, and the little monsters are stronger than they appear and just getting diapers and pajamas on before bed is a huge ordeal. Luckily, their grandparents are coming over Saturday morning to watch them while I play tennis - no subs available this weekend on my team, and I was trying to figure out how I could play and have them with me too! They watched them Wednesday night for us too - yippee - and Lance and I got to go to dinner before the busy weekend began! All in all, it will be just fine - Lance needs his guy time even if we will all miss him! Besides, how can I not want to spend as much time as possible with these cuties:

He took a step!

Tyler took his first steps! It was, of course, completely unintentional but he did it. He was practicing standing on his own and had a drumstick (for an instrument, not chicken) in each hand. They have started wanting to give us things that they are holding and I was sitting a bit away from him and he apparently wanted to give me the sticks. He took two little steps while standing and was at my legs and held on - I wish I hadn't been so close to see what could have happened! He did it again yesterday once and only one step before he went into the squat. I think he will only attempt it, for now, when he is distracted since he didn't mean to be so adventurous! Katie has let go a couple of times when standing so standing on her own might not be too far away.

I tried to get Tyler to recreate the moment while I had my cell phone camera out, but he wouldn't do it. Probably because he has also just learned how to "walk" while holding on to your hands and he doesn't want to let go because he likes walking. I feel like such a bad mom for the late notice to you guys since this happened a couple of days ago but as the old saying goes when it rains it pours and things have been pretty hectic and stressful lately. Anyway, on to happier things - like pictures! Lance has to get a new camera to take pictures of a listing of his so soon we should have better pics than these taken with my phone!

Tyler, so happy "walking"

Katie clapping for her brother when me and Lance were clapping

Tyler trying to pretend he wasn't going for the stairs before I said "no"

Katie loved her new dress from Grandma Barnhart - she was dancing!

Standing!

Our camera has officially bit the dust so I have no pictures, but Tyler is getting really good at standing on his own (no proof, but I am going to have to get a camera before their birthday so I'll get some pics soon). He has stood without holding on to something for up to a minute but still hasn't tried to take any steps. He stands and looks around for praise and promptly squats back down to crawl to his next destination. Katie is cruising around pretty good, but still has that very oddball crawl. She doesn't crawl as much as just scoots around on her bottom. She is the master stair climber though! She can make it all the way up if she doesn't stop halfway to sit for a minute (and falls of course when she tries). Yesterday she acted as if she was mad at me for standing behind her when she was climbing up - silly girl. She doesn't realize that if I wasn't there to catch her it would be a long, painful fall! I am looking into cheap solutions for getting a carpet runner or stair tread or something like that since I think it is going to be a good long while before I am comfortable with them climbing or going down the hardwood stairs and maybe carpet will be a little better! Of course, if I could figure out how to operate the stupid baby gates it might not be an issue. Needless to say installation is not my forte!

Katie waved bye bye yesterday - which for some reason she thinks should be followed by strumming her bottom lip while spitting. Tyler "barks" ba ba ba ba all the time and has gotten pretty good at ma ma. He still looks at me like I am insane, though, when I ask him to say bye bye or point to something. Katie's new favorite game is to give you something and when you say thank you she tries to imitate and says something similar but not quite sure what it is :-)! Katie is in LOVE with Marley and Marley has been surprisingly good with her. Katie is constantly trying to give her things, or pat her or grab her nose or tail and so far Marley has dealt with it. Marley is definitely glad when it is their bedtime or naptime though - she is glad for the break! Speaking of - just when I thought we might be able to push their bedtime back a little in celebration of them soon being ONE, they went and got super tired last night at 6:45 and were asleep by 7:10. Oh well, I am sure in the near future I will be wistfully thinking about these times of early to bed and sometimes wishing they were back again! As most of you know, I have to have something to worry about at all times and right now it is the transition from formula to milk and getting rid of bottles or not (especially since Tyler has not quite mastered the sippy cup). Wish us luck!

Pink Eye - Yuck!

Katie woke up this morning with goopy eyes so we called to get her an appointment to make sure it wasn't pink eye and to just confirm that all of her ear pulling wasn't because of an ear infection. The good news is that her ears are fine - she is just enjoying her new play toy (earlobes - anyone's including her own). She does, however, have pink eye in both eyes. I took her to the doctor and she is home with her dad today in hopes that we can keep Tyler and every other kid at daycare from getting it. It would be really nice if mom and dad could somehow avoid it to but I am not holding my breath. She seems to feel fine, and was really enjoying being by herself with mom - she got to go to the grocery store (to pick up her medicine) and sit in the cart like singleton babies, she got held and read to and played with at the doctor's office and had my undivided attention, and now she is home playing with all the toys without Tyler around and loving it!

Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend. We brought the playpen back out because Tyler is really wanting to cruise and explore and I thought it would give him something to hold onto. He liked it for the first day, but now he realizes it keeps him away from drawers and cabinets and he wants to roam. Katie is pretty content in there, especially since I put the little baby pool in with her. She loves climbing in and out of it and they both were cracking me up sitting on opposite sides of it and treating it like a see saw, screaming happily and just having a ball. They also had their first grilled cheese this weekend - Katie loves cheese of any kind and Tyler thought it was pretty yummy too. I put the grilled cheese on the tray with some cheerios, some apple pieces, and some carrots and Tyler, the little stinker, ate all around every single carrot on there and wouldn't touch them!

Grilled cheese will probably make it into the rotation - it was a hit!

Katie was just chillaxin - propped back on the edge of the pool! She has a big scratch on her nose that is finally healing, just in time for pink eye :-(!

Tyler is pretty intense these days - focused on figuring all this walking, talking, getting into trouble stuff out.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary and even though we don't have any big plans (dinner thanks to our fabulous sitter Liz) - these guys are definitely worth not going on our annual (I guess not anymore) anniversary vacation! Pam took these at daycare - they are getting quite the personalities these days and it seems that they have more of Lance in them than me - clowns (ok, maybe some of that is from me too :-))!

Uh, oh - they can do that?

So, we have been letting the kids pretty much roam where they want all over the downstairs and just keeping an eye out to make sure they don't get into trouble. Until yesterday they had pretty much avoided the dining room and staircase and stayed in the kitchen and living room trying to open drawers and cabinets and escape through any open doors available. Well, yesterday they watched their dad walk upstairs and you could literally see an idea form - we can climb the stairs too! I stood behind them to see what they would do and they were pretty good at climbing - Katie made it up two stairs before falling and I think Tyler would have climbed all the way up if I didn't stop him. Now, of course, they beeline straight to the stairs every chance they get - that is only if they are not distracted by an open back door, laundry room door, fridge door, pantry door, you get the idea. They are curious, curious and surprisingly fast with their odd little crawls!

Here they are plotting their next move.

And making a mad dash for the stairs! Tyler protesting after I told him no.

Poor, pitiful Katie's look when you tell her no! Luckily, they are still pretty easily distracted!

Early Birthday Presents!

Well, the kid's Grandma (Barnhart) was in town this weekend so they got their birthday presents a bit early! They both love their new toys - Tyler got a truck and Katie got a drum but they are "sharing" them so it is like they both got two new toys. We finally got the camera working (sorta) so here are some pictures from this morning's playtime.

Katie on the drum - she loves it!

Tyler likes to play with the blocks!

Katie does too, but she can't figure out how to stand AND hold things just yet!

They really love the morrocos Grandma brought them too! Tyler finally got them! You can just barely see Katie's shiner she got from fighting over those shakers! That's my boy - straight for the Mayo when Dad left the fridge door open.
In other news - Katie now has FOUR teeth, the top two finally came through. They are both learning high five and Katie has gotten UH - OH, pulling to standing, and the head shake down pat. Unfortunately, like this morning when she was after the dog food yet again, when you say no she stops, shakes her head and keeps on going! They are both eating really well, Tyler a little too well. I have just been putting puffs and crunchies on their tray for a while now with no problems but apparently last night Tyler was afraid they were going to go away and proceeded to shove four (yes, four) crunchies (like cheese puffs) in his mouth and started screaming bloody murder when I reached in and took two of them out - silly boy. When I put him back in his chair and was going to feed them to him one at a time he promptly reached over and stole two off of Katie's tray lightning fast and shoved them in his mouth - these two are T-R-O-U-B-L-E, but so much fun!