Swimming Again, Wow!!! And Other Fun Things Because I Just Can't Help Myself!

The boys did awesome this morning in their swimming lessons. This was after a small reprieve this week after four days off. Yesterday Gus was sinking his legs big time and not swimming or floating, mind you, he still had no fear to jump in the pool, but today he was back on track. Check out the video by clicking here!!!

Raleigh has been doing so well in the pool with me, that it was great to see him do just as well with instructor Korey. They still scream and hate to be in there with him, but if I try to take them out of the pool they cry about that too! Here is a second video that would not post on Blogger...click here

Additionally, the boys friend Mikey donated this scooter to them, and yes, Raleigh can already ride it at 17 months. Oh man, we are sooooo in trouble, he has the need for speed just like his Poppy! Watch this video.


Some other things the boys are up to -

The zoo - they love it, really, we all cannot get enough of it! The animals are so much more fun for the boys now that they can walk around and see them better. We even fed a giraffe this week! Of course, these water babies enjoy the splash park area at the zoo just as much as the aquarium or swimming. They are too much in those spray fountains!

• Trying to put things back together. If they see something that came off of something else, they immediately try to "fix" it. This includes pieces of banana, paper, you name it, they want to put it back.

• Playing with each other. They love to tackle each other, or wrestle, and I know, you have all seen the videos, but they just are too much almost every night going balls to the wall messing with each other. They love to switch toys, and steal them too. Playing "cat and mouse" is one of their favorite things, they will even lay down just waiting for the other one to come and get them. I have to chuckle when I see one (usually Gus) hold out his toy and taunt the other one and laugh when they miss. Seriously, this is not taught, it is already known at 17 months, you can always mess with your brother! I love how well they get along. Despite a few bites here and there, they are such great brothers already. They are both so sweet and love and hug on each other as much as they love on us. Check them out in this video

Napping - well, we are finally down to one nap at least 90% of the time. This is great and I think swim lessons was what put them over the edge. We had scheduled morning lessons and it just fell into place where they would play all morning, do their lesson, eat a big lunch and nap all afternoon. Then they would sleep like champs at night too, and started sleeping until at least 7am. Unfortunately, they are getting their final teeth before their 2 year old molars come in, so we had a few bumps in the overnight sleep last week, but all in all they are doing great on the new nap schedule. Even on days when they don't have lessons we can go all morning, get a great afternoon nap, and then play some more before bed time.

On another note, I scheduled the boys sedated heart ECHOs today. We are not excited about this, it will be an all day event for them, including a stay in the hospital for the procedure. However, it has to be done since they won't sit still for a proper reading. :( Sad, I am going to need a lot of support those two days! October 6 and October 13th. Poor pumpkins!!!

More Swimming Videos and My Favorite Things, Part III or Maybe it is IV

Here is how you swim with twins; make that twins who are just learning to swim. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6Ly3poXQ4 I had to upload it through YouTube again because Blogger just does not like to upload my videos very much these days. Definitely did not want to be on YouTube in my swim suit, but the video is too good not to share...

Fun times every day!!! Again, this is week four of swim lessons. They are pretty darn fearless! This week they also had their clothes test to see how they did when thrown in to a "real" life situation with clothes and shoes on in the pool. Raleigh did not pass, Augustus did. Rals went second and we noticed that whoever goes second gets pretty sloppy during their lesson. I wish I could clone myself sometimes to help keep them calm and away from the lesson until it was their turn, but alas, that has not worked yet!

Friday, the boys made a visit downtown to see Daddy. He is not there very often any more, so it was good to stop by and see him and ransack Jeff's office too!

Just a quick update on our favorite things the boys are now doing.

• Mimicking language much more. The boys are able to say "on" when they want their favorite bus from Thomas and Friends turned on. They will try and try to say things if you ask them to, unless they are too busy to stop to talk. Gus has said "grandpa" a couple of times too instead of just pa, pa!




• Raleigh taps his fingers when he is taking a little rest. For example, he has been running non-stop, sits down or lays down, and just drums his little fingers and usually looks up at us while he does it. Too cute for words!
  
  
  
• Raleigh also does this look, a look that could kill. It is almost the "Dirty Harry" squint. I would love to know what this little drama-man is thinking most of the time!!!
  
  




• Shaking their heads "no" and signalling "all done" for more then just food. Today in swim lessons Raleigh starting signing "all done" when he got in the pool with the instructor. Again today they did the "all done" sign in their car seats to say enough is enough. Driving to the Keys with them is going to be soooo much fun:(


• Climbing, climbing, climbing. Not sure if it is a favorite, but they are doing it all the time. We had to lower the high chairs so they would not fall so far if they happen to fall after climbing in them. Yup, they can climb all the way into their high chairs at 17 months. Now we leave them on their lowest settings so if they want to explore, they don't have too far to fall on the tile!

• The boys are seriously still the best 17 month old wrestlers we know! There is nothing malicious in their play most of the time as well, so it is fun to watch them interact with each other. Their giggles and pure joy of playing with each other was something we were not sure we would hear one day, and now, every day they fill the house with laughter. Amazing and purely uplifting for anyone who hears it!!!! Check out this video again on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnIxF-WBa4w More pictures at the bottom as well.
  
• Whenever they see Grandpa Pickles, they look at him, think about it, then make their arms look like chicken wings, just wait for him to make his chicken sounds and dance. I think he may be Grandpa chicken...


• They are still the best huggers. Seriously, the pat your back, squeeze their hands, and just love to cuddle. They love kisses as well, particularly after Matthew kisses me goodbye in the morning. However, they have a habit of opening their mouth wide, very wide, when they kiss. Gus has been known to slip his tongue in as well. What a fresh little man!
  
  




• As of last Friday, Augustus was 27lbs, and Raleigh was 25.6lbs. Wow! They have grown sooooo much lately. Most of their 12 month clothing no longer fits, except Raleigh can squeeze into some 9-12 month pants/shorts. He really has no gut or bum. Augustus is really loosing his belly too. They have gotten incredibly tall. We go for their 18 month checkup later this month, and I am very interested to see how tall they are!
  
  
  
  

Last night we had a power outage and some much needed rain...resulting in squirrely boys. Here are some photos of our night. You can click on them to see them larger, but really, I have sooooo many pictures, so some just need to be squeezed in.

Swimming Update

Today was an awesome swim day for the boys. They missed their Friday lesson, but even with a few days off, they were amazing!!! Here is a video of Raleigh flipping on his own, me loosing my breath for a second, and then Raleigh swimming and getting up to float again! Rock Star! Augustus did awesome too, but I did not see him much because Daddy was home for Labor Day and helped during his lesson. The second video is a short one of Gus swimming to the stairs. I know from our weekend of almost living in the pool he was not one to float...the boy just kept going back to swim more and more and more. We had to force them to rest or they would just keep diving off us and going back out to swim like fish, not boys:)

We had a lovely weekend. Lots of time with the boys in the pool of course. On Saturday the boys spent their first overnight with Nonnie and Grandpa Pickles. They did well and I am sure had fun doing all sorts of stuff. They were a lot taller then the last time we attempted sleeping in a pack and play though so it provided some comic relief for Nonnie. Matthew and I had a great night alone...although the next time we may ask them to take the cats too because they woke us up way more then the boys ever do!!!! I think they were super excited to be rid of them. We had our neighbor friends over for drinks and snacks and it was just a really laid back night of fun. Today we went to the park again, but the boys were pretty tired from all their fun at the grandie's house that we did not last long. This afternoon we spend most of our time in the pool and helping daddy cut trees and play in their cars. Then we had a fabulous cookout. What a weekend. Already looking forward to next Friday..

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Look close at these two pictures of Raleigh in the swing...Gus is flying by in the background. I just think they are cool shots!

...FYI: Gus is Batman, Raleigh is Superman!

Beachy Friday Night

My Boys! Rals, Daddy, and Gus

Last night the boys, Daddy and I went out to Beef's for dinner. The boys just adore their broccoli, and the bonus was the kids meals were free that night, yay! Then we headed to our local beach on the bay. It was really nice out, still nice warm weather, but a storm was rolling in so we had a nice breeze and it was not too hot! Here are some of my favorite pictures. There are more pictures of Raleigh because Gus was being a Daddy's boy. He was not as fond of the water and the sand last night, but I think it was just because he was really tired.

This morning the boys and I went to our first stroller fitness class; which is conveniently located in my parents' community. It was great, but I have a feeling I will be very sore tomorrow. I really have not worked out much since the boys arrival, can you tell??, but it felt great. The boy were so well behaved and were in awe of us crazy mommas doing squats, push-ups, etc. with the strollers. Great times! If any of you locals want to join us, please let me know! Then we visited Grandpa Pickles while Daddy worked on some much needed yard work. When we got back, Daddy was still hard at work, but we went to the pool and the boys literally never took their heads out of the water. Well, that is an exaggeration, but you get the drift!

Swimming Updates with VIDEOS:)

Yup, two posts in one day...got lots to do, really, I do, but I have to keep family updated on the boys swimming progress. Really, it is a lot more fun then folding a bunch of laundry and reviewing our club's bylaws - seriously!!!! Top video is of Augustus. Check out his kicking on his own to get to the stairs, even keeping his head down! Raleigh was really good at floating today, as usual, and really can flip over on his own, he just did not have kicking power today, so his swim was a little more labored to get to the stairs. Still awesome job for only 2 1/2 weeks of lessons.

The Zoo is New to Us!

This morning was seriously one of the best days ever! We packed up bright and early and headed to the zoo with Nonnie. We have not been since Nanny & Poppy were here in April, and a lot has changed for the boys since then. They are now running instead of just learning to walk, and they know every animal, can imitate almost all of their sounds and if they cannot say it, they at least know the sign for the animal. Amazing.

It was supposed to rain, but we figured at least we would be cooler if it did. We were not wrong. The light rain that we did get hit with felt amazing! Plus, the last time I was there I was going through some serious anxiety issues, and this time, it was so awesome just to enjoy the moment and feel like I could breath! Amazing indeed. Enjoy this slide show of the pictures...to many to post!


We cannot wait until Nanny, Poppy and Auntie Peta arrive to do this again - they will be blown away for sure!!! Plus, doing it with them able to walk, or hop out of their cars is SOOOOO much better then the stroller. More hands = more fun!!!