Life...At Random

Here are a few snapshots of life in the last week. Sorry it's been a while since we posted. If you only knew. Wyatt is getting very proficient at this crawling thing and is no longer contained by the area rug in the living room. He's also getting very good at the cruising thing too.

This is a picture of the first morning we found Wyatt standing up in his crib. We promptly lowered the mattress.

Here is Wyatt helping put his Anywhere Chair together. These were their birthday presents which were ordered in plenty of time for their party, but had to be shipped back to Pottery Barn because they were shipped without the monograms. Then, we found out that they were backordered. Ultimately, UPS showed up at our door one evening, and we couldn't wait to assemble them.

Yes, we ordered two, but Parks wants not only what is his but also what is his brother's.

After a couple bumps to the noggin, we instituted a "bottoms in the chair" only policy since this picture.

Wyatt looking a little like Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" in this picture.

Parks already dreaming of his first car.

Comments

I still can not get used to strangers' comments when we are out in public. Since we have made it a habit to get out of the house with the boys at least once a day, I just wait for what seems to be the inevitable. We are very gracious when the comments and questions start to come. We say "thank you" a lot and "yes, they are twins" a dozen or more times. Often we end up giving answers to a lot of the same questions. "No, we don't think they are identical. This one has blue eyes, and this one has brown ones." "Yes, this one is a little bigger, but the smaller one is older by two minutes." "Yes, they are a lot of work, but this is all we know."

I also love to keep my ears open for quiet conversations that occur that are not directed at us. I over heard one between a father and son that made me laugh. Wyatt still had his helmet at the time. The son said, "Look that boy hurt his head." The father's reply was, "No, he had to have surgery." Also, we get a lot of people that just stare nothing more. From the time that they spot us until the time that we pass them, they stare. They stare and say nothing more. We smile politely as we walk by them, and they continue to stare.

I could not imagine how much more attention we would draw if we had triplets or more. All in all, we are gracious and patient, but I can't help but chuckle a little inside everytime.

Birthday Party III

This is the last installment of birthday photos. There are way too many to go through, and it already seems like a long time since the party actually happened. All the balloons are deflated, all the leftovers are eaten, and all the toys have been played with. We are looking forward to the second year of the boys life and the fun that will come. This was the adult cake for their birthday from Bruster's. A chocolate chip ice cream cake that was a lot larger than we thought it would be.

Big Papa holding Wyatt while everyone played outside. Wyatt still hasn't gotten used to the feel of grass on his toes.

Randi's parents holding Wyatt just before he dove into his smash cake.

The boys' grandmothers holding them before the festivities got kicked off. There seems to be a lot of holding going on in these pictures.

Parks examining a leaf. He was probably also getting held at the time. I think that he is going to be our baby that wants to be outside all the time.

Birthday Party II

Here are some more photos from the party. There are still more to come over the next couple days. Wyatt in his party wear after opening his new Radio Flyer coupe. He loves to play with all the knobs and buttons.

Parks and mommy taking a break after opening gifts.

Parks and me after the meltdown that was the smash-cake.

Parks taking his turn in the car. Parks cares more about getting pushed around than all the gadgets on the dash.

Birthday Party I

Parks and Wyatt had their birthday party this weekend. We are still going through the hundreds of pictures that were taken by us and family. Here are a few of them getting into their cakes. There will be many more to come soon.Wyatt digging in

Parks did not like getting dirtyUp close and personal

Parks Playing In The Sunscreen

Me and the boys went to the Park one day last week, and we were slathering on sunscreen. As I rubbed it on their heads, we started playing with their hair. Parks had a very nice faux-hawk going, and I got a couple pictures of it. I am not being partial towards Parks. It's just that it didn't have the same effect with Wyatt. He looked more like Charlie Brown or Homer Simpson with his one or two hairs sticking up (which they always do anyways).

Wyatt Crawling

Below is a video of one of Wyatt's first attempts at crawling. This is a huge deal in our house because Parks started crawling over two months ago. Wyatt's physical therapist told us the gap between he and Parks would widen as it came time for the more physical milestones...sitting up, crawling and eventually walking. We were beginning to think he might never crawl. We're so proud of our little man!

Here are a few things to watch for. He is whining the entire time. He is easily distracted, i.e. my talking to him, a piece of paper on the floor, or to study the lines on the rug. He takes a short recess half way to rollover on his back and grab his feet. With all the toys we have to coax him, he ultimately crawls to Randi to retrieve the remote control. Once he finally get what he wants, he sprawls out flat in total exhaustion.

Playtime Photos

The boys playing with a punching balloon.

Wyatt playing in a kiddy pool we filled with plastic balls.

Parks getting in on the action.

The boys modeling their new duds.

Wyatt playing with daddy's visor.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY PARKS & WYATT

We are all recovering well from rotovirus in time for the boys' birthday celebration. It has been a pretty rough scene around here the last week. Somehow Wyatt has the immune system of steel and he never got it.

Wyatt decided to surprise us for his birthday. He has finally learned to crawl! He also learned to go from crawling to sitting and back, and he is very close to go from sitting to standing and lying to sitting. In a matter of a day or two, he has decided to show off all these new skills that we have been practicing for what seems like eternity. Parks is still very close to walking, but has not decided to take the plunge yet. That is fine with us. It's hard enough to chase him around now while he is crawling.

The boys are also off formula...forever. Nothing but Horizon whole milk from here on out. The boys are ready for their big party on Saturday with family. They've got big, fun new toys coming their way. We've got more photos and video to post, now that we are coming out of our shells from the last week.

Mother's Day At The Park

We took the boys out in the late afternoon yesterday. The weather was perfect. It was the boys first time out to the park to swing and slide. There was a little apprehension at first, but they warmed up quickly. They were having so much fun. We could not push Parks high enough, and Wyatt would laugh every time we touched his feet on the upswing. Parks liked sliding down on his belly and tried to "kamikaze" a couple times, head first. Wyatt just enjoyed inspecting the pine bark left over on the bottom of the slide.

Parks and Aubie

Air Jordan?

They look like the pushmi-pullyu from the Dr. Dolittle story

Wyatt and his round head.

New Blog Look...Same Great Blog Taste

I just wanted to send out a recognition for the new blog design. It took a little effort, but we think it turned out well for doing it ourselves. We used Cute Blogs for the background wallpaper and used Scrapblog to create the header with the boys' picture on it. We will keep evolving the blog as the family grows and matures. Thanks again for everyone peeking in on our corner of the world.

Milestones

It seems the boys are hitting big developmental milestones the last couples of days. For posterity's sake, I thought I should blog about it. We still don't have a walker, but I feel like Parks will be taking steps within the next few weeks. He's getting braver everyday and even letting go for a second or two while cruising between pieces of furniture.

We have been practicing for months on both boys' pincher grasp. After every meal we give them Cheerios and Goldfish for them to try and feed themselves. I thought they would never get it, but last night at dinner Parks figured out how to feed himself Cheerios. Yeah!! No more of me and Daddy having to put them in his mouth. He's been feeding me and Todd Cheerios for two weeks, but he has now learned to feed himself.

Wyatt is wanting to pull up on everything, his crib, toys, furniture, and us. He's also really close to crawling. He gets on all-four and rocks back and forth. He has even started to belly crawl in the last couple days. It's only a matter of time before both of them are on the go. Lord, help us.

Foam Dome

NO MORE HELMET!!! That thing was starting to smell like a middle school boy's locker room. You can imagine how bad it would have been if he'd of been wearing it this summer. Wyatt and I made the trip this morning to the orthotist for a head scan and evaluation. All major issues have been resolved. My son now has a symmetrically-shaped head. He no longer has a bulge on the right side of his forehead, has only a slight degree of flatness on the right rear quadrant, and his ears are aligned well.

Below is a copy of the scan we got today. The line in red is from January, when we first started the process, and the blue line is the one from today. They lowered him in a small U-shaped tube and in 2 seconds, had a 3-D scan of his head. He has made such great improvements and was so patient with the entire ordeal of the last three months. We often joke about how it would have been if Parks had been the one to need the helmet. WOW!!

Riding In Cars With Boys

We have been taking the boys out in the afternoons to run errands and just to get out of the house for a while. Our hot spots are Target, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc., and we get recognized all the time. It works well to wear the boys out before we put them to bed and break up the monotony of the day. Some times they get a little more tired than others. This emotion range can swing the pendulum in two very different directions. At times, it turns to tantrums and crying; other times it turns into laughing bouts of delirium. We captured one of those moments tonight on the way back from Mellow Mushroom.

Parks

Parks was crawling up Randi's leg, and she snapped off this shot of him. You can tell be the look on his face that he is up to no good. He really wanted the camera, and it was only a few inches from his face. It was so washed out in color but turned into one of my favorite shots in black and white.