Merry Christmas

It has been a whirlwind experience getting ready for Christmas and celebrating it this year. I cannot believe Matthew and I were still shopping on Christmas Eve day.  Seriously?  Matthew took the reigns on wrapping this year, for which I was thankful.  I hate wrapping, but I love to watch people open their presents. This year was extra special having Auntie Peta with us, but not having Nannie and Poppy here to fully appreciate the excitement and knowing the boys will never be two again at Christmas was bittersweet.  What a perfect age for the excitement of Christmas!

The beginning of the week was a quick trip back to Orlando to enjoy Sea World at night with Nonnie, and then the Magic Kingdom again, and then Sea World one more time before Peta leaves.  It was a great little vacation with Nonnie, Papa Pickles and Auntie Peta.  The boys were awesome travelers once again, especially when it was so cold and we spent some long hours out and about.  We also celebrated a little Christmas with twin friends and that was extra special, too.  How lucky are we to have found such wonderful MoMs and their wonderful children?  I know how much happier I am with all of them in my life. Then, one last trip to Busch Gardens with Peta, too, and a last visit with Santa as well.  The boys loved climbing all over Busch Gardens, but Raleigh got a little over whelmed in the Sesame Street tree house, but he survived and everyone still had lots of fun.  Raleigh went on the roller coaster with Peta, but Gus decided he didn’t really want to go, so we had fun watching them roll around instead.  Than, we went driving around looking at Christmas lights the night before Christmas Eve and although it took the boys a while to figure out what we meant by just looking at lights, they did finally get it.  Whew, I thought I was going to have to jump out of the car if Raleigh asked “where we going?” one more time!  The little monkey was adamant that it was fully appropriate to say “Happy Halloween” the entire time we were looking at Christmas lights as well.  I guess he has quite the affinity for Halloween!!!   Other little jewels from our sons’ mouths included a segment about how Raleigh’s penis was big, and of course, according to Gus, Santa himself was singing every Christmas song that we heard on the radio.  How precious?

We were having a lovely time Christmas Eve opening presents and watching the boys play with all their awesome new toys (mostly diggers/tools/fire trucks/and musical instruments), but when we finally got the boys to sit down for dinner, Gus told us his tummy hurt and proceeded to puke all over the table.  Joys of the holiday.  My good friend Jennifer has always told me it is not a holiday until someone pukes.  As a mother of three, she is so right!!  Besides the throwing up, both boys were acting as happy as clams.  Gus moved into real big boy territory though, because he was able to tell us his tummy hurt from that point on, and walk himself over the the toilet, step up on his step stool and vomit into the toilet himself.  Wow, that is another sign they are growing up, right?  Raleigh was fine and ate a full dinner, so we thought, maybe it was just too much excitement, but alas, no,  we heard Rals throw up in bed around 2:30 am.  That was his only vomit incident, but both boys are not eating and are pretty lethargic.  Although, yesterday, it was nice enough to get outside, so we did get a few walks and rides in the neighborhood in and you would have never guessed they were sick. 

Here is a little slide show of our holidays.  For those of you reading this blob, thank you.  I hope you enjoy a glimpse into what the boys are up to, and the crazy things they come up with all the time.  We all hope you had a magical holiday season, and and even better New Year!

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Auntie Peta Arrives!

Well, it has been a few weeks already, but we’ve been having so much fun, we really have not had time to blog.  Auntie Peta got here just after Thanksgiving and we’ve had a great time with her, and Daddy even got a week off for us to explore a bit of Florida with her, too.  Here are a few highlights in photos.  The boys are enjoying jumping all over Peta…although I think she’s learned that they are a heck of a lot heavier than they were the last time she visited a year ago.

Click HERE for last Thanksgiving.

Here’s a quick view of our ride to the North Pole on the Polar Express – how fun, but how cold???!!!??? The boys also got to play on some bouncy houses, their newest obsession!

"Polar Express and Snow Fest"

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Here are a few photos of the boys’ first trip to the Magic Kingdom, thanks mostly in part to another free pass from Miss Stacy – you rock!!!  The boys did great for being there all day…we even slipped over to Epcot for a few hours, and their favorite part of the day was the Spaceship Earth ride.  Being a Space Camp alum, I LOVED that they were hooked on space, too!!!! The fireworks were not their fave, but we all loved the view of the castle in lights with fireworks overhead.  We are still kids, after all!

		Disney Magic Kingdom 1st Visit for Boys VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

While Auntie Peta, Daddy and Gus were shopping, Raleigh and I stepped out for fresh air – hello claustrophobia!  The dance competition in Downtown Disney was just beginning, and here was the result…enjoy the videos.  Yes, Raleigh won, of course!

Raleigh shakes it.

Wait…they’re clapping for ME???!!!???!!!

Santa at Busch, complete with zebra pants and leopard trip coat…two trips, and neither resulted in much smiling.  Still adorable

In other news, we have the boys in their first pair of 3T pants.  The 2T jeans from last year are just too short, especially on Gus man.  Thankfully, Nannie and Poppy sent some Uggs, so we can hide the short pants in the boots, but today, they are styling some great pants that actually go past their ankles.  They are HUGE in the waist, even with an adjustable waist, but they’ll do.  Gus has officially jumped a shoe size.  He is now measuring an 8.5; whereas, in August, he was still in size 7.  Raleigh, he is at a 7.5, but I know he is about to sprout up too!  They are both tall enough to ride the roller coaster at Busch Gardens in the Elmo section, and they have done so a few times already with Auntie! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another amazing year of ups and downs, but we are always thankful for the people in our lives who help keep the ups way higher than the downs.  The boys just continue to amaze us, and we feel truly thankful for them every day!  For me personally, I am ever so thankful for my husband.  He is the constant care giver for our family in more ways that just earning the moola!  Raleigh had an awful fall on Wednesday, and as I called to let him know we were on our way to the ER, he was so quick to say he would meet us there.  I cannot tell you how much I feel his support unconditionally.  Additionally, it was great to have even more supporters when I was able to leave Gus with our neighbor and friend, Miss A, so I could go with only one two and a half year old!  Truly thankful for her kindness!!!  My mom of course was also there in a blink of an eye, her selflessness this year is beyond amazing.  Seriously, this week alone she got my car washed, and scrubbed my awful cream colored sink that is my nemesis, and of course cooked a delicious turkey yet again this year.  Of course, my dad is always there too, making us ridiculously amazing food on a almost daily basis.  Some days I think I may starve without him!  We are thankful that we got to spend another birthday on Thanksgiving with the big guy, especially after a hard year dealing with so many heart issues.  We are thankful that Auntie Peta is joining us next week for the entire month.  The boys even get to spend Christmas with her!  What a treat.  Sadly, the grandies are not joining her this year, but we are thankful that we get to see them soon in the new year.  I am so thankful for the friends who have come into our lives just because we had twins!  How lucky to have joined a spectacular group of women and moms that my kids can enjoy time with their kiddos, but I really benefit from their friendships most.  I am thankful that my best friend in the whole world is still my best friend after 30 years and I even get to see her once and a while despite our different states of residence.  Simple things I am thankful for, include, nap time, wine, great books, time to read, music, time to listen to my music loudly, mom’s night out, and not having to work (well outside of the home that is). I could go on and on and on and on!

 

We were even more blessed this year with a change in plans the day after Thanksgiving to meet our friend Miss Stacey yet again for free entry into Disney. We even got to see Stacey’s mom, whom I have not seen in probably 18 years.  We hit Animal Kingdom, and although it was busy and we got rained on before the parade, we all still had fun. It was great to enjoy the park with Daddy and the boys.  We got to spend a lot more time in the dinosaur area of the park, and I have to say, it is really cool.  I still think Busch Gardens blows away all other zoos and animal parks in regards to animal proximity, but this has the coolness factor of Disney, so it was still great.  The animal sightings on the Kilimanjaro Safari experience was spectacular!  The weather was slightly cooler than our last trip, and it was overcast, so a ton of animals were just chilling in the savannah.  Amazing.

 

Back to Raleigh’s fall.  He fell up the stairs in our backyard. Miss A and I were on the porch, just opposite of where he fell, and heard him hit the cement and I was truly thankful he did not hit is head anywhere except his chin because I think he may have knocked himself out.  Unfortunately, he hit his chin just right so he left himself with a pretty big gash. I knew as soon as I saw it he would need stiches.  So off to the ER we headed where bravely endured the three stitches along his chin. Now he has matching scars to Poppy, me, and about 50% of the population who fell on their chins at about 2 years of age!  It was more painful on me…I think.  He did not cry to badly, and even slept like a champion that night and ever since.  He really hates getting his Band-Aid changed, but even that is getting to be less stress on him.  I cannot tell you how painful it was to help hold him down while they put in the stitches. It took two other nurses to hold him down, on top of him being completely swaddled in a bed sheet.  Whew!  He is  strong little bugger.  His pain tolerance is amazingly high; probably stemming from his time in the CVICU. 

Here is a picture from the day after the fall. Looking good.  It is just now getting to the point of being itchy, so we hope it is not too bad before he goes to get them removed on Wednesday this next week.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving – love the shirts the boys did themselves for the occasion – and Disney.  If you are reading this, just know how thankful I am, it makes me super happy!  What makes me even happier is a comment or two every once and a while…Enjoy!

the next two picture are pretty indicative of how much the boys don’t want to take pictures right now!  They may smile, but mostly don’t want to look at the camera!  Oye, I thought I had them trained;-P

Here is a piece of sweetness. My favorite part of Thanksgiving happened during this picture taking.  Matthew and I had just kissed and Gus looked at me, then looked at Matthew and said “Daddy loves you too, Mommy.”  Then he reached over and planted one on Rals.  Ah, at least we are doing well at “training” them to be sweethearts!  What good men they will be some day!

Snakes, meanwhile, Daddy was standing a good 20 feet away, not these boys, they just went up and petted them!

Those were a few of my favorite shots, but here is a cute slideshow of us and the “manimals”