1st Birthday Bash

We successfully threw the boys a birthday party!  Kaleb woke up on his birthday with a fever and awful cold, passed it to Aiden and I the following day and with stuffy noses and little coughs we had the party without our other kid/baby friends.  Bummer for the boys not to play with their pals, but it was best not to share germs.  Having sick kiddos isn't fun.  

The presents, blueberry covered cupcakes and company were all terrific distractions for the boys, and I think helped them feel so much better!

A huge thank you to all our friends and family for sharing such a special occasion with us, we truly appreciate everything you all have done, and continue to do!!  

My mom was such a big help preparing the party.  Grocery shopping was a breeze!  The boys drove and pointed to all the special things they wanted to serve.

I had so much fun putting together a time-line from the past year, eating sweets and drinking sangria.

The boys are obsessed with their new puzzles, drums and toy cars!

If Kaleb had it his way he'd sleep with his cars!  He loves them so much.  With all the new toys my mom and brother helped me rearrange the upstairs playroom to better suit the boys needs.  We also cleared a space for the boys holiday present……I can't wait to share when it arrives!!!!

Until then the deputy and sheriff are on the watch.

Again, many thanks to you all!  Love, the gummybear twins!

One Year Milestones

The boys had a fun-filled birthday full of hugs and kisses, singing and extraordinary presents.

1st birthday present from Uncle Ben (OB) and Grandpa Eddie.  Huge box…which has become our clubhouse

K&A's new puppymoblie.  This is GRAND fun.  K walked across the kitchen right after this picture!

I think Kaleb and Aiden favor their hand-made rocking horses from their Bma.  What a special gift.

Kaleb and Aiden had a fun opportunity to have their one-year cake attack and neither one went past the whipped cream and sprinkles!  HA.

Yesterday we saw our pediatrician and here are our 12 month milestones:

Height and weight:  Kaleb is 18 pounds 14 ounces and 27.5 inches!!

Aiden is 20 pounds and 28 inches!!!  What little peanuts!

Sleep:  Two naps a day, 730 bedtime and awake usually around 7am.

Food:  New foods this past month includes eggs, tomatoes, pasta, onions, corn, black beans.  I feel like we are good with anything from here on out besides peanut butter and strawberries (which aren't recommended until age 3 now.  Jeesh.)

Discoveries and Accomplishments:  Both boys have learned to come DOWN the steps now!  Kaleb is pretty fast moving and Aiden likes to climb up a little better.  They have accomplished walking too.  Aiden is on the verge of running, and Kaleb just learned, so is still a wobble guy.  They have discovered rocking on their horses is the most fun ever, and Kaleb makes a horsey Gallup sound.

Baby Babbles: No new words recently, just the gallup noise.

Today K&A have their big birthday party, so the celebrating continues!  This past week we all enjoyed the last few nights of Hanukkah

and even had a blast playing at our first visit to the zoo.  The monkey's, TWIN TIGER CUBS, hippos and jaguar were our favorites.

Most phenomenal photo ever.  Courtesy of BMA!

I'll be sure to post birthday party photos soon!

Emotional

That's me.  Crazy emotional wreak over here.  I've been crying everyday as the boys inch closer to their one year birthday.  I can't believe how much has happened, and how quickly time went by.

I remember every moment so clearly from a year ago today.  The first time I held Aiden, what he smelled like, the sound of his breathing and the feel of his tiny body against my chest.

My heart still skips a few beats when I think of the first time I saw Kaleb, under the wires, the sounds of the beeping monitors and rise and fall of his chest.  I can never explain the way I felt when my doctor came into my room with good news...I could finally hold him.  I scarfed my grilled cheese sandwich and made my way to the nicu as quickly as I could move.  I sang to him and silently cried so hard I couldn't breath.  I was utterly filled with so much love at his touch.

I'm grateful I had such a kind and patient doctor, who continues to take his time with the boys and myself.  He is a wonderful man and at times I'm not sure I would have survived handing Aiden over to anyone else when he had his first sleep apnea episode.  We see Dr. Madson on Friday for health and wellness exams, afterwards I'll be sure to post stats.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOYS!

I love you deeply, forever and always!

Thanksgivukkah

Happy Thanksgivukkah everyone!
The boys got to watch the Macy's Day Parade during breakfast this morning, and they'd dance along to all their favorite songs.  It was pretty fun.

We hosted a delicious turkey "Linner" this year, and were also able to celebrate Hanukkah with all our friends!  I'm thrilled we fit everyone together at one table.  The boys loved chowing down on everything, especially the green bean casserole.

I'm so excited to teach Kaleb and Aiden about traditions and celebrate special holidays with them.  It'll be interesting teaching them, and I look forward to watching them learn and shed light on new family traditions we'll do together!

My oh-so-handsome turkeys!

Party planning

It's been grand fun party planning these past couple weeks.  The boys first birthday is going to be a blast.  I'm SOOO excited my brother and mama are both coming to celebrate!

We currently have a huge dose of cold weather…so the boys get to strut their pens hats!!  I love this.

Before the birthday bash Keith and I are hosting a big turkey dinner at our house.  I'm so excited to share everything on the turkey table with the boys.  I've been introducing foods based off our menu, so hopefully we won't have any allergic reactions.  This past weekend Keith's work hosted a turkey feast, which was a good trial run for us.

Kaleb is such a ham.  The boys hanging with Dad

At Keith's request the boys had a little photo shoot with his motorcycle, before it exchanged owners.  Both liked to play the drums on the gas tank.  K&A won't be allowed on another one…for about 100 years :)

Hope all you turkeys have a great week!

Tricky

It seems the boys are learning new things every day.  It's truly amazing to witness how they pick up on subtle things and take off like they've been doing it all along!

Kaleb's newest tricks: dipping the spoon into the food dish AND feeding himself!  If you make a funny face he does it back!!!  My girlfriend Shirelle taught him how to bat his eyelashes.  It's hilarious!  He turns the pages of whatever book he brings me to read.  And for "shits" and giggles, the kid craps on the floor every night, right after dinner and before bath-time. ..a total trick on me.  I think I'm going to start putting him on the potty to see what happens.  And yesterday I swear Kaleb said kitty while petting the Geno Cat.

Race to the bath-tub every night with Dad

Aiden is officially walking!  He still mainly crawls, but every day he shows off how awesome he is.  Today he even walked out the back door, down a step, following me to the porch.

Both K&A cut a top tooth yesterday, making four pearly whites for K and three for A.  We are learning how to brush our teeth.  They both h.a.t.e it!

That's all I have for tonight.  I also wanted to share some nice photos from my Dad's visit with the boys.

We miss him SO much!!!!  Thanks again for our play dates in the park

and helping us plant flowers under our trees!

Teaching the boys how to catch and roll! 

Aiden crawling all over Grandpa Eddie!

If you build it, they will knock it down

Snake Eyes

HAPPY 11 MONTH BIRTHDAY KALEB AND AIDEN!!!!!

I cannot believe in one month we hit an entire year....the most rewarding and difficult year of my life.

The boys have changed so much and everyday they make me laugh in brand new ways.

Our eleven month milestones:

Kaleb weighs approximately 18 pounds 2 ounces.

Aiden weighs approximately 19 pounds.

Sleep:  With the exception of daylight savings, which totally screwed us all up, the boys sleep 11-12 hours a night.  Still taking two naps a day at 1030 and 3o'clock.

Food:  We are mostly in a finger food/mash stage, instead of puree stage.  Yay for transitioning!  We have recently had spinach, russet potatoes, pumpkin, vanilla and ground meat.  We kicked our 4th daylight bottle and I'm teaching the boys how to drink from cups at breakfast-lunch-dinner.  Hopefully next month we'll be ready to pitch EVERY bottle and have cups of milk with our meals instead.

Discoveries and Accomplishments:  Both of my guys are standing solo, for long periods of time now, without holding onto anything, and furniture surfing is at the top of it's game.  Aiden will walk to us, or something nearby if it's close enough.  His longest stretch is about 5 steps.  Kaboom's most recent accomplishment is driving his cars....everywhere.  It's SOOO cute.  He crawls super fast pushing his car along, down the hall and around the coffee table.

Aiden's most recent discovery is drinking like a puppy. It's hilarious, and I'm not sure what's going on.  He does this in the bathtub.  We are currently dog sitting and he must have learned it from her.  Both boys have also discovered it's A TON of fun pushing the kitchen stools around.  They each grab one and they are off.  Making lots of noise and laughing along the way.  They push in every direction and don't stop until they eventually crash into a wall and the stool won't go anymore.  Silly guys.

Baby Babbles:  Kaleb says Mama, Dada, BaBa and yodels.  Aiden says Mama, Dada, Baba, Haha and also makes a new noise that sounds like an owl.

The boys are enjoying a visit with their Grandpa Eddie right now.  He has a bunch of photos, but I'll have to wait until he loads them on his computer and emails them to me. I'll share soon.  Happy Taco Tuesday.