Dynamic Duo of Gus and Rals

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

We Heart Beef Roast

Here are two videos of the boys enjoying them some beef roast. Definitely Matthew's sons with their love of meat and potatoes. Mom...not so much!

Augustus Cardiologist Update

Raleigh & Augustus snuggled up in their car seats.

Raleigh screaming because Gus is touching him...and Gus loving it. Man, do we have our hands full.

Augustus sleeping, could he look any sweeter?

Raleigh & Augustus' great escape.

Raleigh yelling at Augustus who was standing at the window banging.

Augustus & Raleigh in their Pumpkin Patch shirts from Nannie & Poppy - how cute!!

Augustus in his PP sweater vest, man that is the best store for baby boys clothes!

Today Augustus & I braved the cold winter weather to visit the cardiologist. It was literally in the thirties this morning, brr! The good news is that Gus is doing great, and his numbers are all about the same. Which means his pulmonary stenosis is still very, very mild. The great news is that the hole in his upper heart chamber appears to be closed. This was their expectation all along, so it is nice to actually hear that it has happened. He does not have to go back for another 9-12 months, so we can hopefully coordinate his next visit with Raleigh's next visit after April.

The boys are so mobile now I am having a hard time pinning them down to feed them their bottles (yes, the lazy men still want mommy to feed them...). Not to mention trying to change their diapers and clothes is almost a full contact sport now! I can't wait to see how things change when they are able to run away:)

In three days the boys will be ten months. Time has flown so fast, I can't believe they are here, let alone almost 10 months old. I still remember my baby shower last February and looking like I had a basketball stuffed up my dress! Hard to believe the babies are no longer babies; they are really toddlers trying to walk and having a good old time crawling all over anything & everything. Raleigh even cut two more teeth this week. Augustus is still working on the next two bottom teeth erupting. That makes 8 for Raleigh and Augustus has 6. Next up the 12 month molars. I figure by that time we will just have them back into a sleep routine from our trip to Oz, and then they will be miserable again while their molars come in. Oh well, that is the fun of parenthood:)

Hoping everyone is well & staying warm if you are in the U.S. and those of you in Australia, hope you are staying cool!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Just some cute photos and a video of Gus really crawling

Augustus being silly as usual:)

Raleigh - sheer joy & pride in his eyes showing me he can stand on his own

Gus looking like he is showing Raleigh what to do:)

The cutest brothers ever!! Augustus & Raleigh

So, for months now Gus & Raleigh have rolled, stretched and army-crawled their way everywhere. While in Australia, they even became speed army-crawlers. Now, Augustus is up on all fours trying out the real crawl. I actually caught a short video of him crawling too - hard to do since he does not do this crawl exclusively as he is still faster on his belly crawling. Plus, yesterday they had their Cotton On Kids outfits on and they were just too cute, so I had to post these pictures too:) They are pulling up on everything all day, every day now too:) So here are a few shots of them standing. Hopefully, I will be able to get a short video of them pulling themselves up to stand, but it is hard to do when I am trying to watch for them tumbling over at the same time!!

Enjoy.

Friday, January 9, 2009

9 Month Checkup Today

Christmas at Nonnie & Pickles

On our newest toy

Gus' favorite new sport, crawling over Raleigh

The boys had their 9 month checkup today. Only shot was their Synergis - and boy do they hate it!!! The boys are doing awesome of course. The doctor heard a slight murmur on Raleigh's heart, but she was not concerned. Augustus' iron level was a bit low, so they are going to recheck it next month when they go back for another Synergis shot. Otherwise, we could have added half whole milk to his formula. Raleigh's level was fine. They have also graduated to their next car seat, so daddy will be busy installing them this weekend:) Raleigh weighed in at a whopping 20lb 4oz, and was 29 1/2 inches long. Augustus is two pounds heavier exactly, and a half inch longer.

The best news is that they have settled into a better night routine since we returned from Oz. They are getting to bed around 8pm and sleeping usually until at least 6am straight, although Raleigh still has some weird wake-ups from time to time. Gus even made it 12 solid hours one night this week...one can only hope this will be a trend sooner than later. Of course our pediatrician rained on our parade and said pretty soon their molars will come in and their sleep schedule will be all off again soon:) Yeah! Cannot wait...

This week has been a new adventure for us with both boys pulling themselves up to stand and standing on their own. This means tumbles & watching them to make sure they are not pulling each other down while trying to pull themselves using their brother. Raleigh has even tried cruising between his kitchen toy and the chair in our play room. Look out, they will be walking soon!! Unbelievable=)

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Videos of Our Trip

Gus & Raleigh back home in their Life Saver outfits from Auntie Peta & Uncle Paul - too cute!!!

Here are a few videos of our trip. The first is of us arriving in Cairns. The camera may make you dizzy, but it is great to capture the family as we got there. The second one is Keith & Christine, aka Poppy & Nannie, viewing the awesome calendar that the boys' great-auntie Dee made for them. They both had tears in their eyes, so classic. She also made one for my parents too - how nice! So creative. The last video is from Palm Cove. As we walked on the beach we saw hundreds of live shells coming up through the sand, just beautiful!! Enjoy.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Nasty Jet Lag

Augustus & Raleigh with Santa Claus - not a tear was shed, no beard pulling and they kept their hands to themselves too:) So GOOD!!!

Augustus & Nanny - look very similar, no?

Poppy & Raleigh - yes, they do look similar too!

Just a quick note to post these great pictures of the boys from Australia. Soon we will have the video of them arriving in Cairns. Just have to work on arranging all the great pictures & videos of Australia.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year!

The past few days have been rough on Mom & Dad - the boys are great despite their lack of sleep. The boys keep waking up around 10 pm and want to play until about 1 or 2 am. We have tried to keep them on their normal schedule, which we did brilliantly yesterday, but alas, they still woke up and would not stop crying until they were allowed to play a bit. Seems their will is stronger than ours...I am sure we will have this struggle for years to come.

The jet lag is much more difficult coming back from Australia then going to Australia. Probably more difficult without live in help of Nanny & Poppy as well! The boys are at Nonnie & Pickles this afternoon since I am now sick. Hopefully the boys will not catch the nasty chest cold I have brewing. But, being on a few planes with a bunch of germy germs will do it every time!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Home Again

We made it back safe & sound. Although, probably a little more tired than usual. The boys had an absolute blast in Australia. Mom & Dad did too of course; particularly with a little parents time with three nights away on our own - thanks to Nannie & Poppy!!! The cats & of course Nonnie & Pickles are so happy to have us back home, but it sure is sad to leave all the family in Australia. I know this time around with the boys it is definitely harder than usual. The boys had a really special Christmas this year. They of course were spoiled silly & have enough books to open a mini-library which makes Mommy very happy! We are going to celebrate again with Nonnie & Pickles tomorrow. The boys already got one gift because Nonnie could not wait any longer. They have an awesome stand & push walker with lots of bells & whistles now. The great news about returning from Australia is that the boys are officially over their swing!!! Yeah, we can get rid of it now, along with the snap-n-go stroller. I think Mommy & Daddy are over the need for the breathing monitors under their cribs too. I know the boys are much better at sleeping through noise as well after our trip too. This is partly because of the noise on the airplanes and mainly because Nanny helped us get over our "be quiet, the boys are sleeping" routine;)

Little run down of the long flight with two 8 & 9 month olds (as they were younger going over):

Having bottles ready is really the best advice when flying with little ones, especially since ours boys usually only cry when hungry!
Friendly flight attendants can really improve your trip - that and great seats - or empty seats next to you which we got on all except the LAX/Australia leg.
Bassinets on the flight were great on the trip over, not so useful on the way back - the boys were having no part of that on the way home. That meant we carried the boys on our laps for over 24 hours...and this is where the age matters as they were MUCH more active coming home & bigger too;)
The time difference did not really mean much to the boys - this was the best news of all.

Highlights of the trip:

Seeing Nannie, Poppy & Peta's faces when we landed.
Finding Poppy playing on the ground with Raleigh the first night we arrived at 3 a.m. - even better was Mommy doing the same thing the night we got back at 1 a.m. - after giving them much grief & laughs for doing it:)
Mommy & Daddy time at Elandra in Mission Beach & Palm Cove
Seeing the boys become speed crawlers while away & Gus learning to pull himself up by the end of the trip too.
Australia itself - how beautiful!
Taking the boys to the zoo - even though it was super hot out, they had fun & Nannie & Poppy probably had even more fun!
Spending Christmas with the Hamiltons - the first for me & the boys - the food was truly amazing!

Here are a few pictures of the trip - I took too many pictures that I broke the camera...and I had too many to burn to cds. We'll get them via mail in a few weeks, so look for more in the future. I should probably get to bed since I have had about 9 hours of sleep in the past three days.

Augustus - got to love the look:)

The boys at the boulders, Matt, Gus, Rals & Poppy