Busy Weekend

It was the last “official” weekend of summer before Labor Day and we had a jam-packed weekend of fun.

Friday night we had our monthly “Friday Food with Friends” get-together: taco themed – so yummy. We’ve missed the past few months because of being busy with other summer activities. There are always a couple handfuls of kids around (including another set of 2-year old twin boys) and this month was no exception. The boys are finally getting old enough to be interested in playing with (or even just watching) all the other kids. Saturday, Cory had to work, so the boys & I headed out to my parents’ house to help with freezer corn. Actually the plan was for the boys to nap and me to help out with the corn but Colton decided we really needed his help too and took a really short nap – but he was a big helper. Saturday afternoon the boys & I stopped by a high-school friend of mine’s mom’s house to help celebrate her & her mom’s birthdays. It was a beautiful afternoon to spend outside and had fun catching up with old friends (although, I spent more time chasing after my two little crawling monsters!). Yesterday was a family day (since it was Cory’s only day off this week) which we spent shopping for duck hunting gear – guess that’s what happens in a house full of boys. I also had my work summer picnic last night – more socializing & more yummy food. It was fun introducing the boys to a few co-workers who hadn’t seen them since last summer and the boys loved meeting new people, being outside & just being somewhere different. Busy weekend.

Colton is getting braver with this “walking” thing by the day. Friday afternoon he took about 4-5 steps on his own from our rocking chair to the exersaucer (it’s still in our living room for baby cousin “N” to use) and then again 4-5 steps between me & my sister on Saturday morning. So exciting!

Wyatt is also progressing in the tooth-department. His second bottom left center tooth broke through this weekend – I felt it for the first time yesterday.

The current tooth count is: Wyatt – 2 and Colton – 6.

First Visit to the Splash Pad

I skipped out of work a little early yesterday to take the boys (with my sister, mom & nephews) to the public outdoor pool one last time this summer. The weather was beautiful. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the pool we found out that it was closed for the season as of last weekend. Boo! Luckily the local park is just across the road from the pool and has a splash pad. I didn’t know how much the boys would enjoy it this year, being that they are not walking yet, but they had a good time. They would walk around while holding our hands or just sit and happily play with a water bucket & shovel.  They also loved splashing their feet in the small fountains.

Colton constantly wanted to stand on his own - BRAVE boy!

Colton having fun watching cousin "I" fill up the water buckets!

Wyatt pointing his shovel towards the "BIG" fountain in the center.

Wyatt happily playing with his water bucket & shovel.

Our Weekend Camping

Colton & daddy - getting ready to go out on his 1st boat ride.

Grandpa & the boys

Colton "driving" the boat!

Wyatt "driving" the boat!

Wyatt & daddy enjoying his 1st boat ride!

Wyatt & mommy enjoying the sunshine!

The boys trying to figure out what we were floating on.

Fun playing outside in our new lawn chairs.

What snack time is like when we're camping!

Colton gobbling down his graham crackers at snack.

Wyatt enjoying graham crackers for snack.

Bailey - relaxing by the fire.

A wagon ride!

Wyatt...soooo tired at the end of a fun, exciting day!

Colton...soooo tired at the end of a fun, exciting day!

More teeth!

Colton has another tooth!  We noticed it on Monday night - his bottom left one has now popped through.  He now has 2 on the top & 4 on the bottom.  When we found it on Monday night, it was through his gums quite a bit so we guessing that it actually popped through on Saturday sometime.

It also appears that Wyatt's left center tooth is getting close to popping through too.  The gums are really white and he's been a bit more whiney the last few days.

We've been pretty lucky so far as teething has not seemed to effect the boys overnight sleep much at all.  (I also know that this can change at the drop of a hat!)

The current tooth count is: Wyatt – 1 and Colton – 6.

Wyatt’s First Tooth!

We had such a fun weekend camping (pictures coming soon). We enjoyed an extended 3-day beautiful-weather weekend with my parents and aunt/uncle. We were able to get the boys out in the boat for a nice ride on Friday. They loved it and really didn’t seem to mind the big, bulky life-jackets they had to wear either. They each got to take a turn “driving” the boat with Grandpa and thought they were pretty cool doing it. They slept great and even allowed Cory & me to “sleep in” until 7 AM each morning – thanks boys!! We came home yesterday and had the fun job of unpacking everything, which is always my least favorite part of the weekend.

Wyatt is no longer toothless! On Saturday, during my daily sweep inside their mouths to check for new teeth, I finally felt something little & sharp in Wyatt’s mouth. Yipeeeeee Wyatt – his first tooth at 13 ½ months old. Ever since, he seems to be chewing on his fingers and feeling it with his mouth much more but otherwise hasn’t shown much other signs of discomfort.

The current tooth count is: Wyatt – 1 and Colton – 5.

13 Months – The Boys’ Typical Day

I like to give an update of what the boys’ typical day looks like from time to time.

The boys’ typical day at 13 months old looks like this:

6:15-6:45 am: get up for the day (you guys occasionally wake up before this time but are very content hanging out in your cribs and playing your seahorses or talking with each other until mommy or daddy comes to get you); you both stand up and start bouncing on your feet when you see mommy on weekday mornings; on weekends we can get you to sleep in a little bit later from time-to-time; you also get a sippy cup with milk to start your day
7 am: on weekdays aunt “C” arrives with cousins “I” & “N” and mommy leaves for work, aunt “C” gets you washed up, lotion-ed and dressed for the day, then playtime
7:45-8 am: breakfast (yogurt, fruit along with a variety of breakfast foods – pancakes, waffles, muffins) & a sippy of milk, on weekends you now get washed up, lotion-ed and dressed for the day, then a little playtime
9-9:15 am: morning naps, this nap usually lasts anywhere from 1-2 hours (you don’t seem to be ready to drop this nap quite yet)
11-11:30 am: lunch (meal with fruits & veggies) & a sippy of milk, then more playtime
1-1:30 pm: afternoon naps, this nap usually lasts anywhere from 1-2 hours
3 pm: snack (crackers & fruit) & a sippy of water, then more playtime
3:30 pm: weekdays daddy home from work, daddy runs “blinds” with Bailey, does yard work, works in the garage or takes you guys for a walk
4:20 pm: weekdays mommy home from work – more playtime or a walk outside, if it’s nice
5:30-6 pm: supper (meal with veggies & maybe a fruit) & a sippy of milk, followed with our bedtime routine of lotion & pjs (& a bath, if it’s bath night)
6:45-7 pm: snuggling on the couch or chair with mommy & daddy with your blankets & nuks – reading a bedtime story; in bed by 6:45-7 pm (you now go to bed awake but sleepy and put yourselves to sleep within 5-15 minutes – sometimes you fall asleep right away and other nights you talk for a little bit before settling down); you are now down for the night and sleep through the night, only making a couple of peeks and possibly needing your nuks replaced 1-2 times

Our First Race

I’ve been a runner for quite a few years now (8+) but have never run in an actual race event. I made a goal for myself to run in at least 1 race in 2011; and I achieved that this weekend.

Our town was having their annual summer festival this past weekend and holds a race event. They have the race options of 1 mile, 4 mile or half marathon. I tried to talk Cory into running one of them with me but he had a long week at work last week and decided not to (he promised to join us next year though!). Without having much outdoor training time running with the boys during the past month (because of the extreme heat & humidity), I decided to only take on the 1 mile race since I would be pushing the boys in their stroller.

The day started out cloudy and looking like it was going to rain at any time. We arrived at the event early to register and get the boys their breakfast (since the race start time at 8 am is their normal breakfast time). The boys enjoyed their breakfast of rice rusks, a banana, blueberry yogurt and cheerios. The 4 mile & half marathon race start times were at 8 am and the 1 mile start time was at 8:10 am so the boys and I were able to watch & cheer on the other race participants.

I finished the race with a time of 11:45. A little longer than I was expecting but I have to give myself credit – it was my first race, I was pushing a double stroller and I didn’t do much ahead of time to prepare myself. I’m looking at it as a starting point for me for future races. What rocked – it was a cool summer morning and ended up lightly raining about 3 minutes into the race for a few minutes – which was a nice cool-off for me and the boys didn’t get wet under their huge canopies and I ran the whole thing - no walking!  A big congrats also goes to my awesome friend (& mother of two) "A" who ran the 4 mile (in preparation for her half marathon coming up next month) with a time of 37:52.

Here are some fun self-portraits from the day:

Breakfast of Cheerios before our race

Me & my boys

Wyatt & me post-race

Colton & me post-race

My 1st Race

Blog Refresh

I updated the look & feel of our blog today, just for a bit of change. Hope you enjoy it!

Also, here are a few more pictures from all our fun last weekend. TGIF!

Mommy & Colton

Wyatt in his unrolled mess of toilet paper - LOVING it!!
(He did all this damage in the time it took me to change Colton's diaper.)

Sporting our bibs...and looking soooo cute!

Wyatt
(always sticking his tongue out lately!)

Colton

Wyatt

Colton...climbing stairs & causing trouble!

Softball Tournament

The softball team Cory plays on puts on a wooden bat softball tournament every August. In the past the guys on the team handled the field prep, ump’ing and running the beer tent and the wives/girlfriends ran the concession stand. With all the new “future-ball-player-arrivals” in the past two years, they made the decision last year to offer the concession stand opportunity to someone who was interested in a fundraising opportunity and it was taken over by the Alzheimer's Association (such a great cause!).

The boys and I headed out to the ball field on Friday night for supper and visiting for a couple hours and then again on Saturday for lunch. The weather was beautiful; it was a bit warm but very enjoyable.

The boys were about 7 weeks old last year when we came out to visit for the day on Sunday (my one trip out of the house that weekend) – what a difference, compared to last year!

I can’t wait for many more summers of softball with all of the “softball team” kiddos running around & playing together.

The boys & me - last year (7 weeks old)

Colton & Wyatt eating lunch - hamburger, bun, carrots & pears

Colton's funny face!  (not sure what this expression really means,
he was having a blast just playing by the stroller)

Wyatt holding down the tent
(his new favorite thing is sticking his tongue out!)

13 Months Old

I have to say, I have been pretty good with documenting our summer with pictures lately. And, let’s be honest, blog posts with pictures are much more fun. Now that the boys are 1 year old, I’m going to start doing monthly milestone update posts – so here is the first one at 13 months!

We had a busy but wonderful month of July. We did everything summer – the 4th of July, the boys’ 1st birthday, the boys’ 1st birthday party, splashing in kiddie pools, exploring the local children’s museum, enjoying the county fair, swimming in “big” pools, visiting the zoo, hanging out at a family reunion – whew – so, so busy but such a blast!

The boys have been “cruising” more & more lately – whether it’s along the furniture or the wall or behind one of the walkers – they also pull up on everything! Other new happenings: Wyatt loves standing on his head, Colton has a third tooth (on the right) on the bottom that popped through, Wyatt still doesn’t have any teeth, Colton bounces in his crib in the morning when I go in to get him up for the day, Wyatt loves to play in the dog dishes, Colton loves to play in the dog dishes after he sees Wyatt having fun doing it, Wyatt loves unrolling an entire roll of toilet paper in the time it takes to change one of Colton’s dirty diapers, Colton loves pushing around our mini-cooler everywhere!

The boys have been sleeping awesome. The boys are sleeping around 11 hours each night. They fall asleep somewhere between 6:45-7:15 PM. (Our new bedtime routine, since the loss of bottles is: bath (on bath night), lotion & jammies, blanket & book; and they do awesome with it!) They go to bed semi-awake and do a good job of putting themselves to sleep. They both have been sleeping until around 6-6:45 AM.

We had the boys 1 year pictures taken last week (on a beautiful summer day!) and now I am just waiting for the proofs to be posted online. Wyatt (even though he decided he didn’t need much of a nap that day) was in such a happy mode and did great. Colton (who slept like a champ so I thought I’d had no troubles with him) was just not in the mode to have his pictures taken that day. I’m hoping we got a couple good shots of them together…but we’ll see. They really had fun with their cakes (yes, cake smashing for the second time!) for the pictures too but still didn’t get totally into smashing them as much as just eating them.

Wyatt
Wyatt has been such a snuggler lately – and I’m loving it. He knows what his blanket is and will grab it and hold it up to his cheek if you ask him about it. He also randomly comes up to me and lays his head down – such a sweet boy.

Colton
Colton has started to say the word “Up!”. I use it with the boys every time they reach their arms up and I pick them up and it seems that he has really picked up on it. It is the first word that he seems to repeat when you ask him.

Packed up in the wagon...heading to watch daddy play softball!

Summer Fun Pictures Part 2: The zoo

We had so much fun at the zoo that I totally forgot to get my camera out until almost the end of the day. At this point, it was starting to get really hot out!!  Here are a couple cute shots I managed to capture:

Cory & his cousin "K" with the boys in strollers...headed to see the reindeer.

Watching the zebras.

Colton

Wyatt

Me & the boys

Summer Fun Pictures Part 1: The pool - cont.

Here are a few pictures I shot on my camera when we were at the pool:

Both boys so anxious to head into the pool!

Colton hanging out on the beach blanket.

Colton taking a break from splashing.

Wyatt was helping trim up the lawn a little bit...

Wyatt - not passing up a chance anywhere to stand on his head!

Summer Fun Pictures Part 1: The pool

Since I took the boys to the pool without Cory (we were with my mom, sister & nephews) there were not many “free” hands to take pictures. I have a few on my camera of the boys relaxing on the blanket during “break” time but my mom was able to get a few good ones with her camera.  Everyone had such a BLAST!

Me, baby cousin "N", Colton, Wyatt & my friend "D"
(she was a HUGE help, acting as my second pair of hands that day!)

Playing by the fountain.

Splashing in the shallow end.

Everyone was loving the water - even baby cousin "N"!