Just after the boys were born, a good friend of mine from Michigan, Kim, sent us some sweaters for the boys.  They were a few sizes too big for our micro-preemies, but they’ve grown in to them, and now the boys wear them regularly.  Whenver the boys are out and about in them people comment on the sweaters.  And perhaps the coolest thing is that it makes the boys look like little Hobbits.  Or, possibly, the little Dink Dink people from Spaceballs.

Combine these sweaters with the new camera, and we’re ready to start taking a few hundred photos.  What do you think of our little Hobbits?

Guess what?  Joel and I had our first sleepover, WITHOUT THE BOYS, this past weekend.  After a particularly tiring day last Wednesday, Joel looked me in the eyes and stated “the timing could be better but I wanted you to know that I’ve arranged everything and on Saturday, you and I are escaping to Anacortes for the night.  I’m assuming you’d want to know now, otherwise you’d panic, right?  We’re going to stay at the Majestic Inn again.”  I looked at him and said “Yes – crap, I’m already missing the boys and we haven’t’ gone anywhere yet.  Oh – did you get the spa package?????”  “Well, yes and that ruins that surprise, Katie.”  That’s when I kissed him.

The next morning, Laura finally succumbed to the cold and so I got to stay home with the boys.  This helped to alleviate the missing portion of my comment from the night before.  Don’t get me wrong, the boys couldn’t have been sweeter that day and it was just what I needed.  My mom came over on Friday to watch Nicholas and Dexter in order to help ensure a healthy Laura, who was vital to our weekend plans.  That night I wrote out possible scenarios of what Nurse Heather could expect and this task was extremely tough.  Dexter had had an off week and who knew if Saturday was going to be a two nap or one nap day and would they want to eat or reject everything.  WOW – it was too much to think about and after two pages of instructions, I gave up.  By the way, is Heather not the greatest person in the world for volunteering to take the night shift?

Then the big day arrived, Saturday.  Of course Nicholas and Dexter woke up at 6am and were pretty whiney from the start.  I think they could tell this was not going to be a normal day.  Two naps it was.  After an extended breakfast (they ate theirs and once I sat down to eat mine, they wanted that one too), we headed upstairs for shower time.  Couldn’t leave anything but sweet smelling boys for Heather.  Still whiney after the shower so it was time to head to the mall.  Once again, all “talking” ceased and Nicholas and Dexter actually wanted to hold our hands as we strolled through the mall.  We stopped at Borders to pick up a gift and it was in the children’s book room that Nicholas and Dexter finally decided to explore on their own.  Let me tell you, that was fun.  Luckily, they didn’t destroy anything.  They also handled snack time quite well at the Seattle’s Best coffee room inside of Borders and only at the end did Nicholas decide he’d had enough of waiting and it was time to go.  When he decided this, I had just turned my head to look for my purse.  Again WOW – two seconds and he’d disappeared.  I was freaked and shouted to Joel, “Nic’s gone!”  Luckily, Joel had eyes on him and told me where to find him.  Baby on the run.  I did not let Nic’s hand free of mine until we got back to the van.  Also, coffee lids make great toys.  Both Nic and Dex had a death grip on their coffee lids for the rest of the mall walk and car ride home.

We put the boys down for their first nap once we got home, packed, finalized instructions, ate lunch, and did not make it out before they woke up.  Personally, I think Joel and I both wanted to say goodbye.  After many kisses, we left them in Laura’s capable hands.  She was going to watch them until Heather arrived, around 4pm and then take them back from Heather at 6:30am the next morning.  It was all planned.  Joel and I hopped into his car and off we went.  It took all of 5 minutes before one of us broke down and stated we missed them.

The Majestic Inn is a beautiful Hotel and Spa located in downtown Anacortes.  For roughly 22 hours, we had adult conversation, uninterrupted meals, no frustrations, and quiet time to ourselves.  I picked up a book and read.  Oh, it was heavenly.  That’s all I wanted to do.  We were late to our spa appointment because of it.  The TV stayed off and there was no baby monitor in the room.  In my instructions to Heather, I had stated that I would call at 8:30pm to check in.  I actually lasted that long.  Everything went well.  No problems.

The next morning, Joel and I met my cousin Scott and his wife Susan for breakfast.  The snow started to fall and then by the time we left, it was sticking the sidewalks.  By the time we got on I-5 headed home, our hour long drive turned into 2 hours.  Seriously, there was not that much snow on the ground – maybe a half an inch and yet we passed no fewer that 10 cars off into the ditch between Mt Vernon and Arlington.  It was frustrating.

When we finally reached home, the boys were up from nap #1 and happy to see us.  They then took our leaving out on us the rest of the day though a variety of methods and all that relaxing went out the window and frustration entered in.  Oh well, it was really nice while it lasted……   Thank you Joel.  You are the world’s best husband, ever!

Feeding is still the most energy-intensive part of raising these little guys.  Sometimes they’re off, and refuse to cooperate.  Sometimes they’re hungry, and eat with a healthy appetite.  Sometimes they’re in a good mood, but not hungry, and so they’re manic and playful.  Those are some of the hardest feeds, because they’re so absurdly cute, but entirely uncooperative.  We’re supposed to be stern, but it’s an overwhelming struggle not to laugh and smile.  So you tell me, how stern could you be feeding these boys?

As Joel stated in his last blog, Nicholas and Dexter tried to take me out with a cold this past weekend and I’m still fighting. Laura finally succumbed this morning so I’m at home with the boys today. Anyway, in the past, when I’ve had colds, I’d usually grab the Kleenex box and my blanket, and curl up on the couch. This time however, Nicholas and Dexter just wouldn’t give me that luxury. So instead, I had to shove pieces of Kleenex up my nose on Saturday, which they found terribly amusing and tried to pull them out, and work really hard at not spreading germs.

Then, on Sunday, the cold moved to my throat. This day the boys choose to test me by climbing into their camping chairs and standing up on them – over and over again. You know the drill. Look at Mommy. Smile. Climb into chair. Look at Mommy. Smile bigger. Stand up. Mommy asks nicely to sit down. Smile and sit. Smile again and stand. Mommy just says “sit down” no please involved. Smile, laugh and sit. Stand again. Mommy yells.  Multiply this by 2.  Chairs go into timeout. Boys cry. Not talking was out of the question. By the end of the day, I had no voice.

Monday is my traditional day at home. Now the cold had moved into my chest. Oh, I sounded lovely. By 5:30pm I’m thinking, hold on for just two more hours….. The next day I attempt to go to work for some peace and quiet. After three hours my coworkers ban me from the office and send me home. Luckily, Laura is working that day and for the first time since going on bed rest, I’m able to crawl into bed with my Kleenex box and watch bad TV for two blissful hours.

Now you might be wondering why this post is titled Appreciation and not Whining. Here it is. On Sunday, I dropped my mom’s birthday presents and cake off at her house because I banned her from mine. I think I might have given her the best present ever when I turned to her and said “Mom – I really appreciate you. Taking care of kids when you are sick and all you want to do is curl up in a ball, sucks. WOW – Thank you.” Thank you to all you moms out there who shove the sickness to the side and put the family first. You are amazing.

Don’t get me wrong.  Joel helped out immenselybut he was sick too so that meant little sitting around.  Anyway, that’s about it for today.  I”m ready to crawl into bed and hope my developing sinus infection takes a hike.

I guess you can tell by the slackening pace of posts that we’ve been a bit busy lately.  Unfortunately, not for any exciting reasons.  We all (except Laura) got hit with another fun weekend with a cold, so it’s been all we could manage to keep the boys occupied when all we wanted to do was curl up and sleep.  We had hoped to take the boys to a Christmas Tree farm on Saturday, but all we managed in the end was a local stand selling pre-cut trees.  We found a nicely shaped, small tree, and put it on the pool table.  Hmm, I wonder at what point we stop thinking of it as our pool table, and just accept that it’s become the all-purpose play table for the boys?

We also took the boys to the mall on Sunday.  They desperately needed to get out, and that was all we could manage.  We went through the first pass with them in their strollers, then let them out to walk.  We started around an empty corner of the mall, and the boys ran around and squealed.  We walked slowly back to the main aisleway, and as the boys came to the corner and saw all the people and stores, they stopped and would not go another step…  It took a while, and the boys were very hesitant and tentative, but eventually they walked the lenght of the mall, hand in hand with Katie, Laura or I.

Yesterday Dexter had his first physical therapy appointment.  I don’t recall the name of the condition, but apparently he’s holding his shoulders up way too high, compensating for a short muscle on the right side of his neck.  I’m guessing it’s because of his massive head – he’s always had a normal sized head, but on an abnormally small body.  Anyway, our Pediatrician thought maybe this was making it harder for him to talk (interfering with back-of-the-throat sounds), so PT it is.  We didn’t accomplish much this week, but Dexter loved exploring the PT room, and all of the toys.  And his brother wasn’t there to steal any of them!

On the speech front, both boys make lots of sounds, but it’s debatable if they make any deliberate words yet.  Laura says that they’ll say “Uh-oh”, and “ta” (an Australian proxy for Please / Thank you for young children).  On the other hand, Nicholas has definately learned a few signs.  He can ask for food, ask for more, and say “please”.  We’re working on “open” next, and maybe “can I have the car keys?”  Dexter will occasionally manage the same signs, but not as consistently as his brother.

Both boys are getting a lot smarter, and are figuring out how the shape sorters work, and how to get into all sorts of things.  They’re also mimicking us more.  The other day one of the spit up a little bit onto the floor, and I grabbed a towel to clean it up.  I turned around for a moment, and when I looked back, Nic had grabbed a wash cloth and was wiping at the floor as well.  I tried to take advantage of this yesterday, pouring some water on the hard wood floor under their high chairs, with three washclothes on hand to get them to help me clean up.  They came over readily enough, grabbed the towel, took a swipe at the floor and then ran off.  Oh well…

Oh, and Nicholas will give kisses!  If you ask for one and turn your cheek, he’ll lean in and give you a big, wet, sloppy kiss (more like an open mouthed raspberry, but we don’t judge).  They’ll also wave at us at the window, and blow kisses (complete with kissy noises).  In short, my wife and our esteemed au pair have stolen their manhood before they ever had a chance.

We’re hard at work on Christmas cards and Christmas shopping.  We’re nearly there, but it’s just so hard to get anything done, especially when sick.  My to-do list grows much faster than I can check things off.

Also, it’s kind of sad to think on it, but we’re less than three weeks away from Laura taking her leave of us and returning to Australia.  She’s leaving the day after Christmas, so at least we’ll get to share that with her.  It’s just kind of sad, though.  The boys love her, and we’ve come to rely on her so much, it’ll be very strange when she flies away.  Also, she turns 23 next week, so we’re planning to make her clean up lots of blow-out diapers as a present.  Aren’t we great host-parents?

I think that’ll do for updates for now.  But remember how I mentioned the boys love opening and closing things?  Well, over the last few years Boeing has given us these tins of chocolate at Christmas time, and the boys love opening them up, putting a toy inside, closing it, and shaking it until our heads are throbbing in pain.  Here’re some shots of Nic giving some poor toy a concussion:

Honestly, for a lot of the “special” moments, you just have to kind of be there to understand.  A few weeks ago, Katie, Laura and I were playing with the boys in the living room.  Laura had a flyer in her hand.  She rolled it up, and used it like a trumpet.  Nicholas loved it – he kept trying to put his mouth on the other end, blinking furiously every time she made a noise, while Dexter just cracked up.  I’d like to have more of a story to tell of the event, but that’s pretty much all there was.  Seriously, I think they’d enjoy a rolled-up pamphlet more than an Xbox.  Silly boys.