Swimming, er, Floating Success Today!

The boys did awesome today in their swim lessons! They were flipped upside down by their awesome instructor, surprised the heck out of me for sure, but they were able to move to their back and float on their own. Yay boys!!!




This afternoon we headed to a park for a bit to enjoy an overcast day. It was still hot, but not too bad. They had fun, and as we left they both hugged a little 16 month old girl who was playing at the park. Such players

Hair cut is just weird.

So, I chopped a bit of Gus' hair of the sides a couple of days ago. I was very impressed that daddy knew it immediately and asked if they got hair cuts despite being greeted by a house full of people when he got home from work. Kudos to daddy! It really looks weird though. He is still cute as a bug, but it does not look like Gus. :( He looks like a real little boy. Sniff, sniff. Here are a few picture, although it was right after swim lessons so his hair is wet, but you get my drift I am sure. Raleigh got his hair cut too, but his was not as long and wild on the sides, so just a bit of his bangs, and he looks about the same. Anyway, that is all I had to say today.

Press play to see Rals boogie

We are 17 Months Old Today. Really????? Already????

Wow, 17 months old today. Seriously, time flies. It has been about two years since we finally got pregnant after almost five years of trying! August was such a big month in 2007; hence, the name Augustus (it would have been just August if they were girls, Raleigh would still be Raleigh). So amazing to look back and see how much has changed!!!

Gus' hair at the aquarium and swim lessons prompted a hair cut today...if you look closely in some of the pictures you can see his side "wings" were clipped and the bangs were shortened too...

The boys have been doing some serious growing during the last month. I think Raleigh is finally outgrowing his 12 month shirts. He probably has not gained any weight, but has really stretched out. Augustus too, but he has a big of a belly still hanging on him. Gus outgrew the 12 month shirts a few months back. However, they both fit into 12 month pants, and some of those are still really baggy on them. These boys have some small hips! Their little feet still need to catch up with their height increase, and they are struggling to run as fast as they want to. The boys are still not really very verbal, but Raleigh consistently says “ball” and we are working on other words that start with the “ba” sound. Of course they can say mum, dad, pa pa, non, and nan when needed too. They are really good at imitating sounds, particularly animal sounds. If you have not heard Raleigh make a “ba ba ba” like a sheep you are missing out…he sounds like a machine gun! It is hilarious. Gus is making more sounds like he is talking, but not really saying many new sounds…just chatters constantly! Raleigh still likes to use his sign language in conjunction with trying to say things.

They are starting to dance to music more spontaneously, meaning, not just when I say “dance guys.” They absolutely love the music for the Backyardigans show. I am still a stickler for how much television they watch, and I am getting a bit tired of hearing about it from my family, but I still think they are better off without much TV!

I absolutely love that if they do something that normally warrants praise, you will see them immediately look to you for a clap or a “good job!” They love to please and have such looks of pride when they are doing something good! On the opposite side, they also love to test boundaries; which is of course what we expect from now 17 month olds! They still shake their fingers “no, no, no” but many times just go ahead and touch whatever it is we say “no touch” to. Augustus has recently started throwing food when he is done eating as well. Ugh, but we knew this behavior would come at some point. However, they are still so sweet to us and each other. They will pat our backs when giving us a hug and it just melts both Matthew and me. Augustus loves to hug Raleigh right now, but Raleigh is still a bit pissy when he does it most times unless he feels up to wrestling. Raleigh has also taken a liking to a really fake, whiny cry that we are trying to ignore so he stops.

They are really turning into little boys. They love to throw balls everywhere. Raleigh still tends to throw left handed and Augustus throws right handed. The swim instructor noted today that they like to flip over from back to front in the pool opposite ways too. Of course the biggest hit toys are any vehicles: trucks, fire trucks in particular, cars, trains, you name it, if they can pretend to drive it - they love it!

We no longer use a sound machine over night. It was not on purpose to take it away, but we lost electricity in their room, so we tried without and they did just fine. They are really doing awesomely overnight with hardly a peep until close to 7 am. This has done wonders for our sleep and mood as well. I truly think all the fresh air and swimming has really helped them sleep so well. They are still napping twice a day and this too is resulting in long sleep stretches because they are so tired from all their activities. If they do cry overnight, more times than not, they just roll over and go back to sleep. As you know, it took Raleigh a long time to figure this out and not wake up looking for food at 5/6 am. They are doing really big dinners most nights and still eating yogurt right before bath and bedtime, so that helps keep them full! Although they may be a bit pickier with what they will eat then they used to be, they still are some amazing eaters!!!! They ate cucumbers today and loved them, and also licked my homemade Greek pasta salad up. Most of the time they will still try whatever you give them.

We were sad to see our cousins Alexander and Kaine leave tonight, but it was so good to see the boys interact with an older boy and young baby. They had a blast with Alexander, and Alexander had a blast with them. I think the next trip will be even more fun for all!!!!

This is as good as you can get with four boys before bed...and yes, I do put the boys in clothes, but they were outside playing in the rain, so we let them run around in their diapers yet again, but hey, at least they have diapers on;)

Here's the Update on Swimming

The first video is of Augustus working on floating and swimming. The second video is of Raleigh man. Seriously, how good is this for day four of swimming safety lessons? It is hard to take the crying, but not so hard when you know it if for their safety. Enjoy these Nanny, Poppy, Grandpa P and Nonnie! The instructor is amazing, and if you live locally, give me a shout if you need his name and contact information. The funny thing our instructor experiences with twins, and our two are no different, is that the twins tend to have the opposite issues when learning to swim. For example, one is initially a better floater, aka Rals, and one is a better swimmer, aka Gus. Too funny.

Wrestle Mania II

Tonight we were able to catch up with the cousins, Alexander the Great and baby Kaine. They traveled a long way, and were tired, but we were so glad to see them! Alexander has been so excited to see Gus and "Wally" since he saw the wrestling video of the boys a few weeks back. He has been dying to wrestle with his little buddies! The last time he saw them, the boys were 7 months old, and not that much fun for a four year old! So tonight, we were at Nonnie and Pickle's house, and got his chance. SO CUTE - check this out!!!


The boys tag teaming Alex

Of course the boys were so keyed up that they still wanted to wrestle after we got home...and had to feed them another dinner because they had exercised so much with AJ. Here is another video of them in the bath continuing the wrestling theme!!! Press play



On another front, we started swim lessons yesterday, well, not me, but Augustus and Raleigh did. The boys are being taught in our pool and they are working on the infant swim for survival method. The instructor is fabulous, but it is hard to watch the boys being thrown in to the deep end, so to speak. It is the best thing for them though. This course will prepare them for the unexpected and will even teach them not to freak out if they fall in with all their clothes on by doing just that when they have mastered a few more skills! On day two, Raleigh was able to successfully float on his own. Augustus did really well kicking and getting to the side for safety, but sucked in a ton of water. I think we may have better luck with whoever goes first, because the second to go has to watch his brother struggle and gets a bit scared!

Picture of Raleigh getting to the edge

Picture of Augustus working on floating

Raleigh in Auntie Peta's surf shirt, so cute!!!

What We Have Been Up To...

Gus and Raleigh - the aquarium November 15, 2008

Can you believe we still fit into these???

The boys have been wearing these size 12 month Ralph Lauren outfits since they were about 7 months old, and they still fit. You can really see how much they have thinned down. Just getting taller by the day!! Plus, lots and lots more hair;)

The boys were supposed to start swimming lessons today, but they both had a funky stomach flu that lasted about 24 hours and honestly, impacted Daddy and me harder than them! They got sick a few times, and that was it. Matthew and I were laid out for about 8 hours each and still don’t feel too hot. Life with babies!!! Seriously, sometimes I wish I could put them in a little bubble, but I know it is so important to stimulate them outside the house and socializing with other kids, so we’ll take the good with the bad.

We made it to Nonnie & Pickles pool this week. I still cannot believe how much the boys have grown since the last time we went. Seriously, the last time we were afraid they were going under every time they fell in the kiddie pool. This time around, they can actually run in the water without falling...much. When they did get too fast for their feet, they were well above the water line. Yay! The boys also had a play date with other "twinkies" at a great park that we had not been to before. Unfortunately, I got a ticket on the way there...but we still had fun.

Friday we met up with our twin buddies D&C for a little shopping excursion at IKEA. I let the boys out in the food court to hang out at the cool little table and that is probably where they picked up the latest bug. They were so good though, they did not run away, and had a good time sitting in big boy chairs. When we move to the new house we plan on getting them their own little table and chairs. We made it to our friend Mikey’s bowling birthday party on Saturday before they got sick. They had fun and Mikey was such a doll to his little buddies!

Rals looking quite the professional bowler with his hair being whipped by the ball machine!

Augustus trying to fly off mommy!

Gus & Rals - how cute are they in their shirts???


Today was lots of laying low, doing a little texting (see picture below). They got outside just long enough for Mommy to make a Starbucks’s run; which I guess that is a good sign I am feeling better. They also got to run around for a few minutes and eat Popsicles. That was lots of fun!

Raleigh was not happy when his Popsicle was gone!!!

Welcome Home Grandpa Pickles!

Today the boys were delighted to see Grandpa Pickles back home. The video would not load on Blogger but did load on YouTube, so use this link to watch the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ui1FXhVyj8

I have to say that this proves how wonderful he really is. Not only does he do an impression of the worlds biggest chicken, but he does not even mind that his paparazzi daughter is filming this for this for the world to see - yes, I realize the whole world is not reading our blog. Raleigh was just too cute imitating Grandpa Pickles while we were over there for dinner. Now you understand how these boys can keep us all in stitches all day!!!

Today was also the first time the boys tried peanut butter. Daddy just could not wait any longer. They loved it and we don't think they had any adverse reactions to the peanut, but they really did not nap this afternoon at all. Coincidence???? This was after they napped over 5 hours total yesterday, so who knows! Gus' face says it all...mmmm, yummo! Raleigh liked it with a banana on his spoon and some peanut butter, just like mommy! Let me tell you Gus put me through the ringer today. Goodness me. After a wonderful morning out where everyone commented on how wonderful our boys were and how well behaved they were, he really went nuts. Nothing awful, just normal, 16 month old, testing the waters, stubborness. Unfortunately for us, he has the stubborness of both his mother and father in him...multiplied by 100! It will do him well in the long run, I just have to suffer through it a bit now.

Most of our Sunday was spent on the patio and in the pool. It was another hot one! The boys got a science lesson squeezed in when daddy caught a hug grasshopper. Raleigh immediately ran away when he saw it, but Gus just laughed and laughed! Then Raleigh got braver and came up to it too, but then it jumped on Gus. Seriously, right on him. Check it out!

Here's a picture of my mom and me at a friend's baby shower. Such a lovely night away with great food and drinks, and even better people!