Feeding little minds

Mommy’s good little eater.

We went to the zoo yesterday. Besides the rosary group, this was my first outing with all three. We met up with two other moms and 4 kids and had a wonderful time. Joe was anxious to tell his dad and grandmas all about seeing the cow and the horse. Really, we spent most of the time at the playground, and Joe spent most of the time eating the other kids’ snacks. I brought the camera, but I was a little too busy to actually get a shot.

On the way home, we were listening to Joe’s Animal Songs CD to complete the day. I noticed that he was dozing in his carseat. It took me two full songs before I realized that I could turn off the CD instead of singing along to “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?”

The twins enjoyed having a book read to them for the first time. “Ten Little Ladybugs” is a favorite of Joe’s, and the twins were enthralled with the pictures.

Sitting up

We’re sitting up! It’s pretty tough to keep them both sitting up at the same time, but it happens occasionally – usually with a lot of pillows around (just outside of this picture). Luke is the one in blue.

Scott brought back some cute little outfits from China, and we decided to get pictures before the boys outgrew them. Joe had other things on his mind than dressing up and posing for pictures. He put himself in time out and just couldn’t pull it together.

“Hey, Luke, check out these duds!” “Yeah, hmmm…. are you sure they aren’t for girls?”

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Yesterday, the twins were 6 months old! I feel like we need to celebrate making it half way through what every twin mom says is the toughest year. Yay, us!

Investigating Spring

It’s so nice to have our happy, busy toddler back in action. Today, we went outside (there are tiny blooms on the trees finally!) to run around while the babies played in their exersaucers. They were a great tool and I’ve decided to move them to the garage for easier access, which means more frequent trips outside for all of us.

Joe also investigated a bug (we have a few ants that visit us by our front door), first with his eyes, then his finger, then his foot. Bye bye, ant!

I always feel compelled to ask you, the reader, to please ignore the dirty house you see in the background of photos. You probably couldn’t see the ant because of the other specks of stuff I didn’t sweep up. I almost didn’t include this one of Joe in the tub because it’s been so long since I’ve scrubbed the tile. Gross. Well, I’m not going to succumb to temptation. My house is usually a wreck. Big deal. All of my kids are fed and, for the most part, clothed. This is as good as it gets, folks. Enjoy the pics!

Joe loves his bath. Since I got too big to bend down when I was pregnant with the twins, Scott has taken over the bath/book-reading/pajama-dressing bedtime routine for Joe. I can usually hear them throughout the house laughing and splashing while they play games and the pitter-patter of Joe’s little wet feet as he evades the towel and runs gleefully through the house naked. Bedtime is usually a very sweet time for the two of them. I enjoy observing it, but am a little glad to be relieved of the duties. Joe just wouldn’t love it the same way if it was mom’s job.

Here’s a picture of Dinky T. Clown from Easter. I stole it from my sister’s blog. Thanks, Shannon.

The Easter Bummy came...

Thank goodness we are all feeling a bit better. No vomiting in the last eight hours, at least. Scott had to take his first sick day in six years with his company.

Anyway, here are some Easter pictures like I promised.

We took Joe up to the church’s Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Joe couldn't say Easter Bunny so he said Easter Bummy. I'm not sure he really understood the concept, but he enjoyed the candy.

Joe wasn’t too aggressive looking for eggs, but he and cousin Kolbe had a great time. They also got to meet “Dinky the Clown” for the first time – my dad. We thought Joe would be a little nervous or scared, but he just looked very serious for a minute, then, when Dinky spoke, Joe said “Papa…” in a quiet voice. He wasn’t fooled!

Here’s a shot of the boys in their Easter ties with my parents. Aren’t they so handsome?

Delay due to illness

We'll post some Easter pictures soon. In the meantime, we are all sick with a little stomach bug. It's not so little when multiplied by 5! Poor Joe had his first real throw up. Wouldn't you know... it was about 10 minutes into our flight back to Milwaukee. I couldn't think of a worse situation. It was disgusting.

We had so much fun visiting Kansas City. We can't wait to show off some pictures. Thanks for your patience.

Cheese

Patrick finally rolled over! I didn’t actually see it, but this is what I saw when I came into the room after leaving with him on his tummy.

Luke has been rolling for a while and will roll and wiggle all over his crib. He can not, however, even come close to sitting up. Patrick, on the other hand, sits quite well and can sit without falling over for maybe 30 seconds. He’s still pretty slouched over, but he is getting stronger and has more balance.

I went in to pick Joe up out of his crib from his nap to the usual refrain of “Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, weekey, weekey (binky).” As much as he loves his pacifier, it’s a wonder how often it ends up on the floor after a nap.

Joe loves cheese. It’s one of Scott’s favorite foods, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Joe was requesting it for breakfast, morning snack, lunch, after-nap snack, etc. Since I failed to honor his request, he figured out how to open the refrigerator and help himself. Too bad he hasn’t figured out how to open the cheese packet.

Oh, yeah, speaking of cheese, I was taking a snapshot of Joe and I asked him to smile. Instead, he said “cheese!”

Yet again, Patrick is asleep NOT in his crib. This one took less than 10 seconds from cooing and playing with Joe to totally knocked out. Joe was even trying to open his eye for him. He couldn't figure out what happened to him.

Today, it finally happened. Joe announced: “Mommy, poop!” Perhaps this is our first step to potty-training readiness. Actually, I guess the first step would be when he announces it BEFORE it happens.

Exhausting

Luke finally got the whole eating from a spoon thing. He likes the cereal so much now that he sucks the spoon clean sometimes (see below picture – not always!). The twins like to touch each other’s face when they are in bed. Sometimes, they pull out each other’s binkies or just look at each other. We’re working on sitting up and on sleeping a little better. This week should be kind of difficult as we transition them out of our room. This depresses me because now I will have to drag myself out of bed and into another room several times a night. Hopefully, they won’t be getting up so often.

Ferberizing seems a little like terrorizing if you ask me, but they slept better last night than they did the night before, and better than the night before that. Yesterday, I worked SO hard to get them to nap in their cribs – something they’ve never really done. I turn around for a minute (literally – maybe less) and this is what I got instead:

Luke conked out in his exersaucer

Patrick conked out under the baby gym

Here’s our first try of oatmeal. Patrick was sparkling clean except a little excess around the lips. Luke was a mess. Is that oatmeal in his eyelashes? Yes. Under his neck? Behind his ears? Yes.

It was such a mess (don’t look too closely under his right leg… another mess was awaiting me) I didn’t even know where to start. So I took a picture.