What a weekend!

We have had a pretty busy weekend, but no pictures to show for it. Saturday morning we loaded up the boys and took them to Grandma and Poppy's farm. Grandma G came to visit (Gage calls her Auntie G, it's so cute), and they stayed the night. We came back to the city and went to a wedding reception for our friends Lee & Kelly. Then we went home and slept, though we both said the house was far too quiet. We went back to get them early the next morning so that Grandma and Poppy could go to an auction. The boys were very well behaved and had a great time. Grandma and Poppy had a great time too, as did Grandma G.

My dad figured out that Jude plays peek a boo now with his hands. If we say "Peek a boo Jude" he will cover his ears with his hands and smile. Then he claps his hands, he thinks it's a great game. Nate started today, when we say "Peek a boo Nate" he balls up his fists and covers his mouth. Gage covers his eyes with his hands, it's like they are See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Say No Evil.

Yesterday afternoon I turned the boys' car seats around so everyone is forward facing in the van. We went for a drive to test out the new situation and Nate and Jude stared out the windows and oohed and aahed over everything. It certainly makes it easier to see who's sleeping and who's grumpy because they've lost their toys. And we have so much more room now, James doesn't have to kiss the dash anymore.

Jude's top two teeth are almost through now. He dug at them a bit on Friday at the day home, and now they don't seem to bug him as much. I'll be happy when they are all the way through, they have been bugging him for over a month now.

Gage watched the weather with Poppy on the weekend, and Poppy has taught him to say meteorologist. He knows that that's a weather word. Who knows? Maybe he'll be one someday. Or he could be a ditch digger, it doesn't matter.

I really should have the boys weighed and measured soon. I haven't had it done for a while, I haven't been worried about them much. They both lost some weight when we were all sick in March, Jude lost about a half pound, Nate only lost a few ounces. I'm guessing that they are close to 22 pounds each now. It's a far cry from Gage, who was 25 pounds at one year old, but he was chubbier than the boys are.

I still can't believe that they are almost a year old. In the last two weeks they have turned into such people, they do things deliberately, they eat table food (with a bowl of cereal to start, but then they eat whatever we are having), they drink from training cups (like a sippy cup without the valve) and they get mad when you tell them no. They even sleep through the night now. I thought I would be sad that they are growing up, but it's so neat to watch them do new things that I'm not sad at all. I just enjoy watching them discover new things and look forward to each new step they make.

Eleven months (already!)

Less than one month until the boys turn one. Jude took his first steps the other day. They were very wobbly, but he did really well, and we were so proud! Nate has no interest in walking, we stood him up and he just smiled at us and sat down. No use rushing him, he'll do it sooner or later.

Yet more pictures of the boys.

This is the best picture I've ever taken of Gage. No food in his mouth, no goofy smile, no toys, just him. I think he's a pretty good looking little boy, dont' you?



Nate being his stoic self.



Jude showing off the hand clapping maneuver.



James and the boys hanging out.



Nate discovered how to stick out his tongue.





I just have to get a picture of Jude sucking in his lips. It's so funny, he looks like we gave him a grapefruit to chew on. For now, this picture will have to do.

My anniversary present

James and I have been married for almost four years (next month, the day after the twins turn one). He bought me the best anniversary present, a wedding and engagement ring set. He's always wanted me to have one, so we went on ebay and found one in silver to match my other rings.

I'm so lucky!

I really should...

...well, there are a lot of things I really should do, but the most important one is get a clip for my camera and attach it to me. Then I could have gotten a picture of Gage helping bathe Nate and Jude last night. In order to get him to settle down and wait his turn for a bath I asked him to help get cloths for the boys. He got one for Nate, threw it in the tub (at Nate, of course) and said "There you go, Mama. I helped!". Then he got another one and did the same thing. I told him that was enough, and we gave Nate a bath and washed his hair. As I was getting Nate in his pyjamas and James was undressing Jude for his bath, Gage was busy helping in the bathroom. All we heard was "There you go Mama. I helped!" and some splashing. Fearing that all of our reading material was now in the tub, we went racing in there to find ALL of the wash cloths I keep in the bathroom in a heap in the tub (which was still filled with water). He was standing there so proud of himself, I couldn't get mad at him at all. Maybe what I really need to do is attach Gage to me.

No new pictures, I'll have to take some this weekend. Nate is clapping his hands really well now. Every time we say Hooray, he claps his hands and smiles at us. Jude just started clapping his hands tonight while I was putting him to bed. He's been waving at us for about a week or so. They are feeling much better than they did earlier this week, all three had runny noses and coughs. Jude was the worst, but his top two front teeth are breaking through (any day now, as I keep telling him), and that makes a runny nose so much worse.

As for me, I had my follow up with my surgeon today, and all is well. I'm healing nicely and my goiter (ewwwwwww) was multi-nodular, meaning a whole bunch of little lumps made up the really big one. It was benign, like we were told before, but the fact that it was multi-nodular means that there's a pretty good chance of getting one on the other side of my thyroid. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, right now I don't need medication and that makes me happy.

James is still super busy at work and looking forward to the weekend when he doesn't have to fight traffic. Finally, I can commiserate.

Scenery

We saw some of the neatest things on our trip. It's nice with the boys being so good in the van, we can stop and take pictures of things. I like never being in a hurry to get somewhere, so we can always stop and take the time to notice things.

This was just too cool to see. I guess the snow melted really fast and just left the ice clinging to the trees. It looked like tables of ice. I'm so glad that we stopped on Friday to take the pictures, most of the ice had fallen by Sunday.











Not too much further down the road, we saw all of these trees. There were tons of them!







We must look like such tourists, getting out of our van and running through the ditch to take pictures. I think that the truckers think we are nuts!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend at LLB with James' family. The boys were extra, extra good and slept really well, even though Nate and Jude had runny noses and Jude's teeth are still coming in. They had all sorts of fun with Uncle Dale, Auntie Barbara, Auntie Amber, Grandma, Grandpa and the dogs, Wiggles and Stash. And presents galore from all of the "Easter Bunnies".

They've been stocking up on toys, so we don't have to bring any when we come now. Jude and Nate liked the riding toys and Gage was into James' blocks from when he was small.







We brought our traveling booster chairs for the boys to use. They did really well, though the white one doesn't have a strap, so they slid out of the bottom a bit.



We had dinner Friday night, and Gage helped Grandpa with the ham. He was so excited to be helping with supper.



Gage was very adamant that he didn't need a nap on Saturday. He kept telling James "No nap. No nap for Gage." But, after five minutes in the bed, this is what we found. He was pooped!





We even had a good drive home this afternoon. The boys stayed awake for the end of it, and everyone just chatted and played. James and I didn't have to calm a crying baby, it was so nice!

Back to Work

Weekends mean something to me again - more time with the kids and James. I went back to work this past Monday after 13 months of being at home. I had taken 10 weeks off before the boys were born because I was at high risk for preterm labour, and because I couldn't sit for longer than 10 minutes or reach my keyboard any longer. I can't believe how much has happened in the last year or how fast it has gone. Going back to work was wonderful, they really missed me and made me feel right at home again. My eight year anniversary there is the boys' first birthday.

A few new things have happened around the house, too. Jude and Nate sleep through the night most of the time now, but Jude is getting a new tooth, so he's a little grumpy and wakes up a bit. Nate wakes up and if he has kicked his water bottle out of the crib, he makes a fuss, but other than that, we actually get some sleep. Nate started standing up last Saturday, I went to get him up in the morning and he was standing in his crib smiling at me. Now he pulls himself up on everything! He started clapping his hands on Monday, and Jude is really trying to clap his, too. Jude will try to clap his hands, and then just start to wave at us.

Gage has really enjoyed going to the day home every day now. He is very happy his brothers are there too. He's beginning to recognize a lot of his numbers, shapes and letters, and is remembering some colours as well. I'm amazed at how fast he picks everything up.

Well, I jinxed myself. Now someone is awake, I think it is Nate.

Chili Night

We were so excited to feed Nate and Jude chili as finger food for the first time the other night, and we were not disappointed by the results! Gage used to have so much fun eating chili when he was just small and James and I had fun watching him. It's well worth the mess!

They started out really clean...



Both Nate and Jude had to test the beans first.





Once they got into it, they just went nuts!









Chili faces.





Gage enjoyed supper as well.









After supper they played for a bit with Auntie Amber and Dad while I got the tire on the van fixed (nail, go figure!). But, they still needed a bath before bed, chili seems to get everywhere.

Hair Cuts

I finally broke down and asked Arianna to come over and cut the boys' hair. I kept waiting because Gage was almost a year before he had his first hair cut, and I thought I could hold out until closer to the same age for the boys. If it were just Jude, then he would have been ok. His hair is so curly, it doesn't look very long. Nate has his dad's hair, and it's poker straight. He was starting to look shaggy, so it was time.

Jude







Nate







I love how they don't look impressed at all about having their hair cut. Sofia and Gage kept them somewhat occupied, and Arianna did a great job.

Why is it...

... that whenever I take a picture of Nate, he seems to be in this pose?