Warm March

A couple weeks ago you would have mistaken Wisconsin for summertime (instead of what is supposed to be the end of winter), or what I would like summer to be because there wasn't any humidity:) We were able to experiment with some new clothes and Drew became so familiar with having his socks off that the last couple of days when he was wearing socks, he promptly ripped them off on the car ride to the sitter! I think I might be fighting that kid to wear any clothes this summer;)

1 Year Down, 99 To Go

Well, we did it - we made through one.whole.year, with twins. And what a day it was, filled with LOTS of family and friends. It was a fairly successful party even though the twins skipped their afternoon nap. (The day never would have went as smoothly if my sister hadn't arrived yesterday morning and stayed until the party. There might not be another birthday party if Tara can't come and HELP.) They stayed relatively happy and I can't remember any meltdowns - wait, were my kids at the same party we were at?? Just kidding; my babies are usually good at entertaining themselves and there were PLENTY of people that wanted to hold/play with them. I was just a little nervous on how they'd react to the large amounts of people in their territory. Now this whole skipping naps thing is another issue that Kelsey has been turning into a habit for over a week. We are not ready for them to be "one-nap-a-day-toddlers" quite yet:)

They looked at us like crazy people when we sang to them! And after a little coaxing, they really got their hands into the cake. Kelsey actually *ate* most of her half and Drew ended up *wearing* his!

A intricately hand-made gift from the sitter!



Drew sitting on the PURPLE chair, holding a doll - oh man, is Craig paying attention?!




After party chilling with Auntie Tara




Waving "hi" in the tunnel



*Total side-note: I just GASPED out loud because I realized the new season of Mad Men started tonight. I watched the past 4 (or 5) seasons while on bedrest last year and have been patiently waiting for it to start again. I'm addicted! And Sunday night is a great day to watch a TV series, since Dexter, our other TV love, is on Sundays.*

(And I have some cute pics from all the warm weather we 'had' that I will share later this week - some days there isn't just enough hours to do all the things we want!)

Sneak Peek

For anyone who doesn't have Facebook or follow Christy's blog, here is a link to her site with a couple of pics from the twins 1 year shoot: http://www.christytylerphotographyblog.com/2012/03/kelsey-drew-milwaukee-baby-photography.html

We LOVE them! She's so talented and easy to work with. (The time change forced Drew to skip morning nap, making him look a little sleepy but oh so sweet!)

"...Up In The Gym, Just Workin' on My Fitness"

So life has been...LIFE! We just keep keeping on. The kids have been getting outside and the fresh air definitely wears them out:) Kelsey has been falling asleep on the ride home from the sitter (taking a 3rd nap) or "wanting" to go to bed earlier. This of course gives Craig and I even more freedom in the evenings (about a month ago we started putting the kids to bed awake; before that we waited until they were COMPLETELY passed out and then moved them to their cribs...which meant we weren't free until almost 8:30, which left little time for "us").

I have to admit I'm getting excited that the kids' birthday is only a week away. Every weekend we have been doing a little more to the house to "get ready" and I'm ready to be done! I *think* we are pretty set for it - thankfully Craig has next Friday off so he will be finishing the honey-do list:)

And for some reason I decided that today would be the end of bottles (except for bedtime; I'm pretty much NEVER giving up that one - how else do kids go to sleep?!:)). I think it happened because we were so busy around the house that when snack time came, I just fed them applesauce and they drank their sippy cups. It was SO NICE not having to make a bottle. Sometimes milestones find their own way of showing up:)

I don't know what their obsession is with the weights, but they think it's fun! And no matter how far I roll them under the couch, somehow they can get to them.

Duh...

The whole point of naming my previous post, "It's Definitely Spring", was to tell you how absolutely GORGEOUS it was outside yesterday. But my brain isn't functioning normally. Some people tell me it's "mommy brain"; really though, I've been absent-minded my whole life. What I was going to write yesterday, is that we were able to get out and take pictures by the river. Months earlier when I was picking outfits for us to wear, I had found cute jackets for the kids that matched so nice. And I *thought* surely if the weather allowed us to go outside, we would NEED jackets. Now I don't want to sound crazy but it was almost too warm for what I was wearing (sweater and jeans). I even planned to need winter hats (and it doesn't hurt that Kelsey and I look pretty good in them:)). We ended up not putting coats on the kids and had to find some shade, since the sun was SO bright.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify and let you know that the post title had a meaning.

It's Definitely Spring

Well, day light savings rained a little on our parade but as talented as Christy is, I'm sure we will get great pictures. I planned on the kids falling asleep on the 10 min car ride and then sleeping for a good hour. As soon as we stopped, Drew woke up and as soon as we put Kelsey in the stroller, she woke up. They didn't fall asleep again until after pictures, which was 2 HOURS past their usual time. Drew fought us in the beginning and the end - it took him a while to warm up and then he was ready to end the session a bit before we were! It took a little more coaxing from us to get my usually smiley boy to cooperate and participate. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. A BIG thank you to our friends, Melissa and Rich, for letting us/the kids muck up their perfectly clean condo. There should be a sneak peak on Christy's blog and I will share it with you as soon as it's up! Otherwise, here is a *small* peak at the kids from today (I was just TOO tired to take any of my own after Christy left!).



It's a huge owl pillow!! (Thanks, Miss Melissa)



It's Winter, It's Spring, It's Winter, It's Spring

So I'm starting to worry, of course over things I can't control! We are having the kids pictures on Sunday and it all started when I realized it was day light savings. (Which, according to other parents, is just a mean joke to people with children.) When I booked our session back in December, 10:00 a.m. was a good time - just after a nap, before lunch, they should be in a pretty good mood. But now with the time change, I have no clue when they will nap or if I should wake them up early (I can't believe I just wrote that!) in order to keep them on OUR schedule. And then what if they get a cold and we have to deal with snotty noses or (ick) we get a cold. I guess when you spend a good chunk of money, you want EVERYTHING to go as smoothly as you can plan it (the optimal word being PLAN; who am I kidding anymore, now that I'm a mother). Maybe I just needed to get that out - I feel better already. I promise I realize that "parenthood" is more about letting it all be; I'll let you know how it plays out.

This week has been SPRING! Thank God for my mom and our great sitters, who have been getting our kids out for walks whenever the weather allows. Our nanny is talking about the zoo later this week also. Maybe someday when I come home from work, I will have the motivation to take the babies for a walk - considering we have this fancy double stroller I haven't used yet. And I guess Drew is pulling up to stand, but not in front of US! The sitter said he did it a couple times this week. We've also found him standing next to a toy or chair but neither one of us saw how he got there! Ah, my mysterious little man.



He loves the quick-baby-mess-pickker-up carpet sweeper!




Weekend morning pajama time!




This may look sweet, but I think she's just trying to get down.



Headstrong

Last post I talked about how Kelsey won't use a sippy cup - she actually will get angry and swing at it if you put it in her face. So I polled some online mom friends to see if they had any tricks I could try. I wasn't nervous about her NEVER using a sippy cup but I thought I have a month to work on it, so why not. And Drew took to the cup so effortlessly, I was preparing to go to battle with Kelsey:)

Well, I shouldn't have been surprised that my stubborn little girl will do what she wants, when she wants! Tuesday night she crawled into the kitchen by me and the diaper bag was on the floor. Kelsey reaches in and pulls out a sippy cup and starts chewing/sucking on it! What the...? I approached her slowly,  so not to scare her (I'm talking about her as if she's a wild animal!). I grabbed some milk out of the fridge and slid the cup out of her grasp to fill it up. I gave it back to her and she drank out of it like she's been practicing in her sleep! What a stinker!! I have a feeling Kelsey and I will be battling for years to come;)

In Drew's world, it feels like he's been teething for a month! I mean, come on, give the kid a break! I think he officially has 5 teeth and is working on 1 more. The first two were pretty benign but these last 4 (all on top) are causing him great angst! He will chew on his fist; he will even grab Kelsey's hands/fingers to chew on! He isn't always his happy self. The evenings mostly consist of trying to keep him occupied so you don't have to listen to him whine (something he is REALLY good at so the whining is EXTRA irritating). Thankfully it doesn't keep him from napping or sleeping at night. I guess we shouldn't complain since it's his only downfall, but teething turns our usually mellow, happy little dude, into an ill-tempered monster.