Today I need to declog a drain, fix a stroller, let Katie buy herself her birthday present, and set up an auto-deposit for Malin’s paycheck.  I’ve been working on re-painting the trim for 3 months, and am almost ready to apply the primer.  My Dad was out here last weekend, and he brought 4 shelves with him that I’d asked him to make for me.  I sent him the dimensions, but failed to verify before hand that the walls were straight.  They weren’t.  So now I need to clean the garage, so that I can get out the Mitrebox and trim the shelves.  I bought other stuff to put shelves up in our bathroom over Christmas break, but I haven’t been able to start that yet.  I’m supposed to set up our FSA’s to auto-deposit so we stop getting 3 checks every other week.  I have a package of stuff to sent to Laura, thought I got a deferment since the second bracelet still hasn’t arrived.  We have a small tree that needs planting, and I really, really want to go and get another apple tree before it’s too late to plant this year.  Our grass has turned to moss, so I need to get the moss killer out, then de-thatch the yard, then aerate, then put down more grass seed.  I have the stuff ready to add an outlet to the upstairs landing (for a night light), but still haven’t found the time.  I killed off all the overgrown ground cover in the front yard, but haven’t made it to Lowes to buy the bark to recover the ground.  I also need to measure, buy, and cut PVC pipe in order to re-assemble the boys play tent.  Maybe tomorrow…

This morning we were desperate to get out of the house, so we ran off to the Children’s Museum again, which means Dexter and Nicholas will be coming down with a cold by Tuesday, and I’ll be sick next weekend.  We got some cute pictures of Dexter milking a cow, but I haven’t had a chance to download them yet.  Maybe tomorrow…

Before we left this morning, the boys got a hold of the remotes and went to town.  I glance up just in time to yell for Katie’s help, and we recovered the remotes *just* as the “confirm your purchase” screen came up.  Dexter was trying to order “The Box” on pay-per-view.  The trailers kind of creep me out, so I’m glad we stopped them.  So it’s been Amelia and The Box so far.  I’m kind of wondering about his taste in movies… 

In the meantime, the boys have been throwing one dramatic tantrum after another.  It isn’t so much about poor behavior – I think it’s more about their molars, but it hasn’t stopped for the last several weeks. I think Katie’s on the verge of skipping the country.  Think she could find gainful employment in Sweden or Australia?  Their sleeping now, but we don’t have much time left, and i need to run upstairs before the Drain-O eats through the pipes.  Maybe the kids will be done throwing tantrums by this afternoon.  Then again, maybe not.  Maybe tomorrow…

I haven’t anything terribly exciting to share at the moment.  For some reason the last few weeks have had Katie and I worn down, and it’s been hard to find the energy to do much of anything, let alone work through the photos, clean up the video clips, and remember the good parts of the day to write down.  It’s a shame, because there’ve been lots of cute moments, and they deserve remembering.

We’ve also been slowing down on the photos.  Maybe the boys just aren’t as cute anymore…  Or maybe it’s because I miss my good camera, if that adjective still applies.  It kind of sucks – I finally stepped up to buy a DSLR, then have to send the thing in for 2 months to, of all the stupid things, have an onboard battery replaced.  Well, I finally got it back on Monday, so now my only excuse for bad photos is my own incompetence, and the lack of an affordable fast prime lens for the micro four thirds format.

Right now we’re watching The Hackers, vintage 1995 film.  Think of it – a movie about cutting edge network security, back when Malin was just about ready to start 1st grade.  Good times.

The boys have been getting their molars, so it hasn’t been the best of times.  This afternoon, in desperation, we got out the bubbles, and the boys had a great time of it, and it gave us the chance to wash the floors.

And apparently I set the shutter speed a little long by mistake, but the effect was kind of interesting.

Shortly thereafter, we finally noticed that the boys hadn’t had their snack, which Nicholas was kind enough to remind us of by screaming inconsolably until we finally clued in.  It was a surprisingly good feed.  Dexter wasn’t acting all that hungry, but we scooped him up anyway.  He rose to the occasion an date well, though he wasn’t particularly passionate about it.  I was working on Nicholas, trying desperately to get him to eat his last spoonful of peas, and realized I had lost track of his fork.  Then I looked over at Dexter.

Sometimes I think they’re just mocking us.  Oh well.  There’s always tomorrow.

-Joel

The boys have developed a new game, or I should say, Nicholas has patented this one.  Yesterday morning, Nicky entertained everyone by sticking his sippy cup up his nose and then blowing his nose on it.  The rush of air and snot shot down into the mouth piece of the sippy cup, which forced air up through the little air release valve and thus sprayed water on his face.  He’d blow, spray and erupt into giggles, over and over and over again.  So much so that his brother had to copy him.  All of a sudden, I had two boys sticking sippy cups up their noses and loving every minute of it.

Where do they get these ideas?  I sure haven’t seen Malin, Joel or I stick anything up our nose and blow.

Snort and Snuff

Have we mentioned how much the boys love airplanes?  Nicholas especially loves to watch them fly overhead, and it’s some how inspiring to see him, standing there, staring upwards, intently searching for the source of the noise…

Have we mentioned how much the boys love remote controls?

I’d love to write up a full post, but unfortunately we don’t have the time.  Dexter got a hold of the remote control during Naked Time, and before I noticed what was happening, I glanced up to see “Thank you for your order” on the television screen.  So now we’re watching “Amelia”, and have to finish it within the next 24 hours.  At least it wasn’t some $200 “Complete Olympics Coverage” package, or something from the Playboy channel.  And hey, it’s about Amelia, and airplanes, and I’ve wanted to see it anyway, so Thank You, Dexter, though you’re still grounded.  Now I need to go back to the movie.

My head is going in seven different directions at once and it is very hard to concentrate right now.  I’m hearing the laundry thumping in one ear and Joel teaching Malin about her new camera in another ear.  The boys are asleep after melting down during their shower.  I have to admit, we pushed it to close to the wire tonight.  Early morning plus short nap equals cranky babies at night.  I’m sure Joel’s ears are still ringing from the screaming in the shower by Dexter.  As you all are aware, Dexter has the most amazing vocal cords and showers amplify.  Hmmm, that might be why I am hearing Joel through a closed door.  ;)  With Nicholas, we had to let him bring his frog snuggly into the shower with him.  It was in dire need of a bath anyway so no harm.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few observations from the past couple of days.

First, Laura, this will make you smile.  I pointed to your picture on the frig after I noticed Nicholas admiring it.  I said “Laura.  Laura.  Laura.” and he responded with Rara, Rara and smiled.  He knows your NAME!!!!!!!!  How cool is that?

Second, we do have some words or partial words but I’ll take them.  Nicholas can say his brother’s name “Deder”, bubbles = bubu, all done, thank you, and car (which sounds a lot like ”go”) <and I swear I heard Nicholas say “bye bye” today after Susan and Scott stopped by-Joel>.  He can say Mama and Dada but hasn’t called them out to us yet, if you know what I mean.  Dexter can firmly say “Mum Mum” which is a cracker he loves.  He says Mum Mum, walks over to the pantry and then waits for a Mum Mum.  He also speaks in his own language.  Sooner or later, he’ll translate for us but until then, we figure he understands himself and that is all that matters.

Third, I noticed that Nicholas is imitating us and Dexter is imitating his brother.  Case in point.  I poured milk onto my cereal this morning.  Nicholas then turned his sippy cup over and pretended to pour water onto his cereal.  Dexter watched Nicholas and copied his movements.  There are other examples, but none of us can remember them so sorry.

Fourth, I’m going to jinx it by saying this but, THE GREAT MILK DROUGHT MAY BE OVER!  Back in October, Nicholas caught pneumonia.  Before that, both he and Dexter were taking a night and a morning bottle.  After that cold, both of them dropped milk like it was sour.  They haven’t wanted to touch a drop since.  We’ve done everything.  We’ve made it strawberry flavor and chocolate flavor and watered it down and heated it up.  Nothing worked.  Then today, Malin decided to pour a tiny bit into one of our glasses and let Nicholas drink like a big boy.  He finished it all.  Dexter decided to have a go at drinking out of a big cup too and turned it into a game.  After every swallow came the biggest, cheesiest smiles I”ve ever seen.  Of course milk covered his mouth, chin, and bib but he was drinking and he was happy.  It would have made a great commercial.

Fifth, Joel bought hair clippers at Costco, and on Saturday, he cut both boys’ hair.  Nicholas’s curls are officially non-existent.  Dexter looks totally big.  You can see the results in the pictures Malin posted yesterday. <thank god the pictures aren’t too zoomed in so you cannot see how terribly blended they are, or how uneven, but we’ll figure it out.  At the same time, why is it that I’m the one stuck with all the personal care jobs?  Cutting their hair, trimming their nails, giving them drugs – Joel’s job…>

Their independence is starting to shine through and the temper tantrums are a daily occurrence.  When does “time-out” work?  Every time we set up a time-out spot, that becomes the cool place to be.

Anyway, just wanted to catch you all up on the goings on here at the Yates house.  A continued thanks for checking in on us from time to time.  We appreciate knowing you are out there and that you care. 

So I’ve been here for 1½ months now. And I can’t do anything else but love the boys. Nic and Dex you are my sunshine every single day. Katie and Joel I really appreciate everything you do for me. Joel has a hand-full teaching me correct English, sorry Joel I’m a little “retarded” (internal joke). But I’m getting there..
Katie is so kind, helping and we have our “boxes” (Katie collects giftboxes, shoeboxes, cuz it can be useful) and much more. We want our routines and we like it clean. It’s Katie and Me agains Joel, sorry Joel don’t take it personal. I like you too! You are like a big brother too me, and I love that you’re so smart and intelligent (you too Katie) because you make me calm and comfortable. Laura will stick up for you Joel I promise..

I feel like a member of the family, I really do. And the relatives I’ve met so far are amazing. I especially wanna thank Ryan for helping me out with the drivers license. I finally got it!
I’ve had a lot of bad luck since I arrived here. I’ve had troubles like following —> drivers license (proof of residence), Dol in Everett, BECU, classes have been cancelled, water-leak in the laundry room, coloring the bathtub, taking the boys out for a stroller-walk and ending up in the middle of two huge/long upstairs, with a twin-stroller and much more.. I can tell you it’s not easy to move to another country, fit in and do everything right from the beginning. Everything or well, A LOT is different. But I feel that I’m on my way now, I’m slowly getting there.. I just need to hang out, and it seems like my bad luck has finally turned (which I deeply like).  I have so many pictures of the boys that I’m going to share with you. Joel and Katie steals my pictures now and then but they are not very good at shareing them with you. (Which is understandablesince they have two toddlers to chasearound the house!). They have many pictures now but I’m still going to share some with you here today.

I’m trying  to watch some of the Olympics but I HATE the commercial. It’s really killing me, it’s twice as often in the US as in Sweden! So please, everyone at home, don’t complain! Sweden got it’s first Olympic medal today, Charlotte Kalla won the goldmedal of women’s 10 km freestyle! Whiiiooo swedes/girlpower!

I’m looking forward to Thursday when Grandma Zaidee and Grandpa Loren is coming for a visit! And the boys will be so happy to see you again!

Well this was it for me for this time. I promise to write again soon and post more pictures. If you wanna check out my blog the website is following, www.minusa.blogg.se!

I wanna end with apologize since there might be some misspelling, weird sentences or incorrect English. But I’ve tried! And I hope you understand, after all it’s not my native language. And English can be a little hard sometimes, I can tell you that. HEHE

Nicholas is beeing supercute Dex is showing spring fashion

Dex is showing spring fashion

Nic is showing of his belly and his special technique of sitting

Dexy at Valentine's day!

Nicholas and Dexter at Valentine's day, before dressed

Dresses for (success) Valentine's day!

Yesterday, my brother had a birthday and we all helped him celebrate with pizza, cake, ice cream and presents.  (No, I’m not going to tell you which one.)  Needless to say, Malin was totally excited because this was her first American birthday party.  Everyone gathered at our house prior to dinner and the boys put on a show.  They giggled, they jumped on an old mattress, they chased Ryan, and then it was time to go.  Last night was our first dinner out with Nicholas and Dexter and we picked an easy restaurant in hopes that all would go well.  We headed to Alfy’s Pizza.

Malin and I chased Nicholas and Dexter around while pizza was ordered and Joel hit the salad bar to see what the boys might like to eat.  Then the adventure began.  We all sat down to eat.  Nicholas loves pizza.  Dexter wanted to roam.  Thank God for Malin.  She captured the whole birthday event on film for us seeing that we forgot our camera.  Here’s a few pictures that tell the story of our evening.

First we tried the salad bar.

Dexter was unimpressed.

(still trying to figure out if Katie is guilty, innocent, or chewing in this photo)

Pizza!

MINE!

Then home for presents.

And Cake!

Ryan, thank you for being such a good sport and letting us choose the restaurant.  I really hope you had a good birthday!

There was a time, in the not so distant past, that getting the boys to want to color was unheard of.  But not, you mention the word “color” and their faces light up, they walk you to the den where the coloring supplies are kept, and then they race back to their high chairs, totally impatient and wanting to color.  Nicholas is perfectly content to sit for at least 30 minutes, doodling away.  He’s quite the artist.  Here you can see that he was experimenting with both crayons and colored pencils.  (And yes, you can still see the aftermath of his adventure outside when he sneaked past Joel and took the outside aggregate cement steps all on his own.)

Dexter, on the other hand, insists on smashing the crayons into paper (we have more than a few that are now taped together).  His forte is poka dots and he’ll last all of five minutes before wanting to do something else.  Of course if you bring out the paints, well that’s a completely different medium in which to work.  Dexter uses all of his senses when painting.  Here you can see that he really wanted to understand the color blue by tasting it.  You really can’t get the true depth of a color without tasting it.

Whereas Nicholas likes to feel the blue paint trickling down his forehead.

We tried window crayons again last Monday.  Didn’t notice until afterward that they have warnings about staining clothing.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon washing their clothes several times, and washing the windows, and the couches, and the floor, and the trim, and their hands, and their mouths, and the curtains…

Right after Christmas, I took the Nicholas and Dexter to visit my hairdresser Sue.  You see, their hair was getting wicked long and it was time.  I mean seriously, I am not going to be one of those mothers whose boys have long hair and their hair had been growing since May 2008.  Granted, Dexter finally looked like he had hair but it was time.  No more succumbing to peer pressure “Oh, but it’s so cute and look at the curls….”.  So off we walked to Sue’s house.

We needed to bring props along in order to ensure quiet sitting.  That is why Dexter was carrying the TV remote control.

Dexter did not want to sit still.  I think Sue got in maybe 4 cuts and we were done.  He kept swinging his head and looking at her.  Dexter is a little leery of scissors.

Here you can see that the remote control is firmly in Dexter’s hand.

Next up was Nicholas and yes, he HAD a mullet.  It is now gone.  The hair was saved and has since been misplaced.  I’m sure it will turn up sometime and somewhere unexpected.  Don’t worry though, Nic went from long curls to short ones and looked still totally cute and surprisingly grown-up after his experience.  Nicholas’s toy of choice was Joel’s cell phone.

And for reference, this is what Nic’s hair looked like before we chopped it off.

What’ funny is that they need another haircut.  I’m thinking of letting my dad take the buzz clippers to Dexter.  He looks good with a “marine” type of a haircut.  I’ll need to find a regular barber for Nic though.  Anyone know of any kid specific hair dressers out there?????

It’s 7pm, the boys are down for the night and Joel might not be too far behind.  All is quiet and peaceful.

Ever since Nicholas and Dexter’s last growth spurt which equated to being able to reach just about anything, with the exception of the kitchen counters (if you shove something back far enough), our cameras have been stowed out of their reach and out of our reach.  You know what this means?  One – a camera is never handy for the classic Nicholas and Dexter moments.  Two, we have to rely on Malin’s camera, because everything is new to her and she documents life here really well, and three, we then have to wait until Joel finds time to download all of our most recent photos and place them in the blogs for me.

You see, I’m not on Facebook and I don’t get to spend a lot of time at the computer at home.  Thus, my ability to upload pictures into our blog is extremely rusty.  This is not something I do at work and thus can’t easily translate those skills to home.  After asking Joel repeatedly how to upload pictures for over a year, I finally documented the process (Boeing has taught me well on how to document processes) and placed it in easy reach of the computer.  Joel then reorganized the den, uploaded new software, and I”m back to square one.  He did show me the new processes and it looked totally slick and easy.  Just one problem – my memory is shot and I can’t remember anything anymore.  Only when we are both in a happy and non-frustrated place, can we actually teach each other how to do something.   Tonight is not one of those nights.  Both of us are suffering from sleep deprivation – Joel had insomnia last night, the boys are teething (back molars coming in and thus they are not so happy sleepers), and after all the commotion, I couldn’t fall back asleep.

Future blog posts will include pictures and in fact, Joel has some already to roll.  All I have to do is create the story to tell.  Then there are other stories – like Dexter’s most recent head wound (I swear we need to get him a helmet – his poor huge head is not going to last long at this pace) and the great toy sort that we will have to steal pictures from Malin.

So, in the meantime, just because we’ve fallen off the photo count, it’s really not our fault.  Nicholas and Dexter love technology (after all, they are Joel’s sons).  If there is a remote, a camera, a cell phone, or a computer in sight, they pounce and you’re downloading a huge file onto your phone, they’ve reprogrammed your computer (or shut it off entirely like Dexter did to Dr Suzuki’s computer at our last doctor’s visit), the settings are all changed on your camera and there are photos of interesting things, or your TV has been programmed to tape every episode of Sponge Bob Square Pants.

I think I’ll go relax now.  Joel has gone to bed and the house is all mine.  What shall I do?  What shall I do???????