Toddler face

Eli and Roby are 1!!!

Eli and Roby are one.  Amazing.  It's been quite a year.  Or at least people tell me.  Dave and I can't actually remember any of it...

The big accomplishment this month was definitely walking.  Roby has made the leap from "cool trick" to "transportation" and is cruising around like he's found the kegerator.  He can't control speed, direction or keep a straight line but he can definitely get from A to Z.  The bruises on his head are a testament to his perseverance (and our current method for telling the boys apart.) 

YouTube video of the walking for posterity:

Eli is a bit behind on the walking but catching up fast.  He can take a few steps but then crashes.  Doesn't bother him; he's very fast crawling and you get the impression that he finds the whole walking thing a bit of a waste of time.  Why bother? Eli has forfeited on walking but is doubling down on talking.  He's mastered "byebye" and also has "buhbuh" (bottle), "bah" (ball), "Da!" (Dad) and various other noises that clearly mean something, we just aren't higher order enough to understand.  Eli has also started singing.  He loves the toy catepiller that plays music and he sings along, keeping the tune.  I swear.  Like I said before, I'm the mom.  I get to make these kinds of outrageous claims.

This month was also the month of hugging.  These boys love to crawl (or walk) over, check in with a big hug, snuggle for just a bit and then take off in pursuit of whatever just caught their eye.  Often a brother with a toy they would like to possess.  None of my children have been very snuggly so I am loving this hugging phase while it lasts.

The other big news this month was on the sleep front.  They both go down, pretty easily at 7 (we cheat and give them a bottle in bed, when you have four and two are twins, you get to cheat) and stay asleep until the amazingly luxurious hour of 6am.  This started about two weeks ago.  Prior to that they were waking up sometime between 4:30 and 5:30, demanding a bottle and usually, but not always, going back to sleep.  As soon as their sisters kicked THEIR bottle habit (thank you Disneyland), the boys followed suit and decided sleeping in was pretty sweet.  You know what else is sweet? Parents who get to sleep through the night.  Amazing. 

These kiddos are pretty great.  They are easy peasy babies.  They love green vegetables and actually eat the food we put in front of them (doesn't run in the family.)  They just switched to whole milk from formula and didn't make any kind of fuss.  They wake up in the morning and chat with each other rather than demanding service like some other folks I know.  They get in to all kinds of trouble including having developed the disconcerting habit of teaming up to open the oven and crawl in but outside of that, they are pretty lovely.  We are lucky times two.

11 Months

Roby and Eli are 11 months today.  Hard to believe 1 year is just around the corner.  Whoohoo to the impending end of formula.  We are currently ripping through a full container every 48 hours.  That's $9/day for those of you familiar with formula.  Not cheap that stuff.  I'm still nursing them - twice a day for Roby and once for Eli.  (Eli weaned himself from the evening feed by deciding it was a good time to practice chewing.  In the mornings he is less ornery.)  However, as of this evening we are going to go with just the mornings.  Getting Roby to focus is a losing battle.

The big news this month was walking!  Roby took his first step on Easter, about 10 days ago.  Eli waited until today (conveniently right before I drafted this update!)  Neither of them have mastered it to the extent that they could actually use it as a means of transportation but the idea is definitely germinating.

They also both (as of this evening) appear to be waving goodbye.  I may be loosely interpreting a full arm bounce but I'm the mom.  I get to loosely interpret. 

While Roby has been practicing his walking, Eli has been focusing on developing his vocabulary.  He now says "mama" whenever he wants anything (smart boy.)  He also says bhuuu-ba (byebye?) and has been heard to say "Da" when Dave is in sight.  Interestingly, Roby's first word seems to be "uhoh."  Somehow I'm not surprised. 
 
As you can see from the picture above, the only way I could get the boys to sit still this morning was to wedge Sarah Jane between them.  She was a very willing helper.  The pictures below will give you a better sense for what our photo shoot really felt like.

Here I am holding the camera and Sarah Jane is trying to keep them in place.  (Anna is alternating between running around in circles naked in the background and quietly working her way through a stack of books, still naked.)

 At this point I gave the camera to Sarah Jane but had no better luck containing them than she had.

Here are some more of my favorites from this month. 

 Eli, smelling the flowers.

Roby.  Our budding reader.  This is actually totally misleading.  This kid has no interest in books other than objects to chew.  Same goes for his bro.

Roby, showing off his standing skills.

 Team work.

 Roby sleeping.  Again with the books.  Not reflective of reality.

 Bath time - Roby looking at us.  About to dive headfirst out of the tub.

 Eli standing.

Anna with two of her favorite guys.  This is right before she slathered them in shampoo and washed their hair.  No joke.  She did a good job too!

Our little men are happy, happy babies.  They cooperatively sleep through the night (for the most part), smile, giggle, love their sisters and work hard to steal whatever toy the other one has.  They love Vicky and Elizabeth and practically glow when each arrives in the morning.  They squeal with joy when their sisters appear and can't keep their eyes off the girls when they are around.  Their favorite activity is still opening and closing the doors on the play kitchen though they have graduated to doing the same in the real kitchen.  They are nearly impossible to get dressed and their favorite part of the day is bath time.  We can mostly tell them apart but sometimes they confuse us.  Eli has more hair and fewer teeth.  Both were really sick at the end of March along with both sisters and their father.  Five peeps with the stomach flu is five peeps too many.  I conveniently can't remember any details.

And now as I type I hear someone crying... over and out for now.

(Links to news in Sarah Jane's 11 month and Anna's 11 month update, just for fun)

10 months!

Hard to believe that we've known these guys for almost a year.  Oh how far we've come.  This month was the month of new noises and mobility.  And oh boy(s) is that some serious trouble. 

They are both pulling themselves up to standing and inching themselves around any object that stays put long enough to be classified as stationary.  They can also push from one object to another (e.g., the wall to the couch, couch to the push toy...)  Eli has been spotted balancing momentarily on his own.  Roby is too busy crawling after anything he can put in his mouth to practice that too much.  Dr. Cutherbertson pointed out that they are focusing all their energy on their large motor skills to the detriment of other tricks like waving or clapping but he wasn't worried.  Speaking of Dr. C, we had their 9 month weigh in.  Eli is still larger by a pound at 22lbs 6oz (86%) vs. Roby's 21lbs 8oz (76th.)  Eli is 29 1/4 inches (78%) and Roby is just behind at 28 3/4 inches (58th.)  They both have enormous heads.   



Standing when they should be sleeping...

They instinctively know exactly what they shouldn't be doing and do exactly that.  They LOVE anything having to do with the bathroom and beeline towards it whenever the door is left open.  The other day Eli made a run for it, I scooped him up and shut the door only to realize about 10 minutes later that it was unnaturally quiet and that Roby had beat him to it and I'd shut him in.  Thankfully the bath was drained and the toilet closed but my adrenaline is still recovering. 

They both love to "cook" at the red stove, primarily open and shutting the cabinets, hours of entertainment, almost as good as watching their sisters.  I somehow never got a picture of this.  Project for next month.  I did get a video though:)

Their favorite activity is the bath.  They know it comes after dinner and they know they've missed out on the opportunity if we get them in straight in their PJs. They let us know that they are NOT pleased. 

Oh, and we got some hair!  Just a bit and just in the back. Interestingly it's looking a bit curly. 



Curls?

Eli said his first word, and has said it twice (with multiple witnesses.)  Unlike the girls who elected to go with "dada", Eli (smartly) chose "mamamama."  I'm a fan. (Although that is Roby I'm looking at below - maybe waiting for his debut?)



Photo by SJ

Everyone has been very sick this month.  Not sure if we are dealing with colds, stomach bugs, teeth or some combo of all of the above but sleeping through the night has seen better days.  Eli is doing fine, Roby, not so much. 

Speaking of sleep, I need to go get some but here are a very few photos from this month.  For our photo shoot this morning, Anna gets all the credit for providing entertainment for the boys to keep them focused and prevent them from eating the tack that held the sign into the chair.  We were only partly successful.  (Tack - uneaten, focus - not so much.)

Just for fun, here is a link to Anna's 10 month update.  SJ's 10 month is here.

9 months!

The boys are nine months today.  If last month was two steps back, one step forward, this month was leaps and bounds ahead.  We went from not really sitters to sitting, getting themselves up to sit, standing, pulling themselves up to stand, crawling for reals (not just commando), climbing up stairs, climbing down stairs (falling), eating for reals (not just spitting), and sleeping through the night (no more dream feed.)  We also added sixish new teeth between the two of them.  Mostly from Eli.  We did not move forward on the hair front.  I have faith that will come later.

These kids both LOVE their sisters.  They find Sarah Jane and Anna totally fascinating.  They are less interested in each other.  Roby likes to steal Eli's toys.  Eli has been known to hit in retaliation.  Eli has also pulled Roby's hair, difficult to do, not very much of it.  They are very proud of all their new tricks and like to show off.  Particularly standing.  They put everything (toys, books, fingers, my jewelry,etc.,) in their mouths and chew, hard.  They LOVE chewing on wires and have a sixth sense for finding outlets.  We think they are pretty easy to tell apart but others are not so convinced.  The red paint is wearing off Roby's toes and I don't think I'm going to repaint this time.  Grandma and Zeke may lobby me to do otherwise.  They are wearing 12-18 month clothing, primarily hand-me-downs from Cousin Blake and friend Drew Chun.  Thank goodness for hand-me-downs! Roby has finally stopped his banshee yell.  Eli loves to be picked up and held, Roby is more content to sit and play. 

Here are the boys playing in our room while we get ready in the morning.  Mornings used to be relatively easy.  I didn't know that at the time.  Things are different now. These guys are trouble.

 and in constant motion...

 Roby crawling

Eli can too, though he is more apt to revert to commando when he needs to get somewhere fast, mainly when Roby has stolen his toy. Often the case.

 Eli standing.  He fell and added yet another bruise to his head seconds after this picture was taken. 

 We did our 9 month photo shoot while Dave was away in Costa Rica at Uncle Matt's Bachelor Party.  (Yay Uncle Matt. May the fish be with you.)

Grandma has been showing up every morning at 6:15 on the dot.  Thank goodness.  Otherwise things would be entirely out of control instead of just mostly.

 Trying again.

This month's picture with the girls didn't work out so well.  Anna is under Eli.  There was a tussle over who got Roby.  SJ was not happy with the outcome.

Just for fun, here are links to Anna and Sarah Jane's 9 month updates.

For posterity, a day in their lives looks like this:
5:15-6:15 - One or both of them wakes up and is fed in bed with me.  When finished with the first one, he is deposited back in his crib and the other one is fed.  That generally leads to the first one being fairly unhappy.  These guys do not like to hang out on their own while everyone else parties in mom and dad's room.

6:15-8:00 - The boys entertain themselves or are entertained by their ever loving sisters on the floor of our room while we get ready to work.  This used to be easy.  Now that they can crawl this involves them both throwing themselves at the two stairs in our room, crawling to the top, rolling/falling down them, crying, and then starting again.  We have finally gotten smart and block the stairs off with pillows.  We are a bit slow on the take.  They are now trying to conquer the shower. 

8:00-9:00 - Vicky and Elizabeth arrive, the boys are buckled into their seats and fed cheerios, cut up blueberries, eggs, french toast, and/or oatmeal.  They go through a lot of food in the morning.  Most ends up on the floor. 

9:00-2:00 - They have a bottle (pumped) and go down for a nap.  Vicky leaves when Elizabeth gets back from driving the girls to school. Their nap is highly variable as far as I can tell.  Elizabeth takes them out to the park, they have lunch and their noon bottle (pumped/formula) while out and about and then return to the house in the afternoon to meet their sisters who are delivered from school by Grandma or Zeke. 

2:00-6:00 - They have another bottle (formula) and go down for their afternoon nap around 3.  Again, highly variable and definitely not coordinated.  Some one's always cooperative, some one's always not.  They like to keep us guessing.  At 4 everyone heads out the door.  If the boys are awake, they go with the girls, either to the park or to Studio Grow.  If not, they hang out at home with Vicky while the girls hit the town.  They have their dinner around 5, either at home or at the park. 

6:00-7:00 - Everyone arrives home and has family dinner with mom.  That usually consists of mom racing home from work to cook something which then elicits squeals of disappointment and is thoroughly rejected by everyone at the table.  Not that I'm bitter.  At 6:45 the boys (Roby only, Eli has quit) nurse briefly and are then changed into jammies and sleep sacks and head up to bed with their final bottle (formula.)  They usually go to sleep very cooperatively.  Occasionally we have some protests.  For the most part they stay asleep till the next morning, teeth, colds and noise from their sisters are known to cause exceptions. 

Having (too much) fun with Instragram - some pictures of our week

I've been having lots of fun with my new iPhone and exploring photo editing apps.  Below are some photos from the last week, examples of my new favorite time suck, Instagram....

SJ painting in our bedroom

Anna in her favorite look - Princess/Bride.  She puts this dress on every morning first thing and every afternoon as soon as she gets home from school.  Much thanks to Aunt Lauri and Uncle Matt for providing her with so much joy (and us with so much glitter.)

Some love for Aunt Ellie, we were so happy to visit with her!

Appropriate photo for fashion week.  Anna definitely has her own look.

The boys have figured out how to pull themselves up.  They are VERY proud of themselves.

My birthday present from my parents.  Appropriately adorning our kitchen. 

More love for Aunt Ellie.  Did I mention these weren't in any order?

Sarah Jane and Anna on their way to an overnight at Grandma and Zeke's.  Yes, they were going for 16 hours.  Yes, they managed to fill their entire suitcases, mostly with stuffed animals and blankies.  Much fun was had at the overnight.  Dave and I enjoyed it too! (Suitcases by Nana and Papa)

At the park with the ladies.

These next two could be under the dictionary definition of "Trouble"