2, FOUR, 6 8

2013 Wolves Athletic Auction

We made it to 4 months people! Much quicker than I expected we would, but this month has been crazy busy so the days flew by even faster. I can happily report that everything that was happening last month is even better this month. The boys are sleeping better, playing more, interacting, and are still such good babies. I think I might say this with every change, but this is so far my favorite stage. There is nothing quite like walking up to your little guy and having him smile when your eyes meet. Or that sweet baby giggle that sneaks out when they are overwhelmed with glee. These days my heart melts a minimum of 5 times a day. J

Ties like Daddy

June was just CRAZY. We started their 4^th month out with Daddy’s WOU Athletic Auction. For Braxton and Carter the event brought a chance to dress up in their “ties” and meet all the WOU donors they hadn’t met yet. However, Carter almost messed that up with a HUGE blowout 5 minutes before we were supposed to head down to the conference room. I was literally upstairs in our hotel room washing out crazy amounts of poop and blow drying my infants outfit so he could wear his matching getup with his brother. Once we were poop free they finally made it downstairs and were passed around by everyone, met and took pictures with NFL player and WOU alumni Kevin Boss, and got lots of oohs and awes on how cute they were. After while they started wearing down and getting hungry- so Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) were brave enough to take on two 3 months and 4 days old little boys and spend the night without Mom and Dad back at our house. This was the first time I had ever been away from them overnight. For the boys it was a piece of cake! For heaven’s sake my mom was equipped with 40oz of pumped milk in the fridge which is really all the kids care about these days. But, for me, it was NOT so easy. I didn’t expect it to be that hard to say goodbye to them. The emotions flooded me almost instantly, and I was so not ready for that. Somehow I held it together without a single tear, but you better believe in the morning we headed home as soon as I could get Michael out of there.

This month I also started going back to work a little bit. We hired a new Nanny, Danielle, and she is FANTASTIC. Danielle will be a senior in the fall at WOU and is graduating from the same program I got my degree from.  Michael calls her their “Girlfriend”, which is pretty cute because when she walks up to the boys both of them immediately grin and absolutely adore her. I really couldn’t ask for anyone better. Right now I am working mostly nights so Braxton and Carter have “Boy’s Nights” with Daddy every week, and Danielle is picking up a few hours here and there for us. I have realized that at this point about 10 hours a week is my max, and that’s a-ok by me. I am not sure how the mom’s who have to work full time do it. I cried the WHOLE way to work the first night I left them. I’ll increase my hours a little more in the fall, but I really am soaking up as many minutes with my little men as I can.

I'd pay a double baggage fee for these guys!
3 Month Pics

The boys got their 3 month pictures done with Sarah at the start of the month, and also a special set of pictures from Picture People for Father’s day for Michael. Lets just say that the photo shoot with Sarah went much smoother than our experience trying to get 2 babies and a Goldendoodle into the mall. Thank god I had Danielle with me, or I am not sure what I would have done. After 2 flashes Dudley decided he was going to make a run for it. I can definitely say chasing my dog through the mall is not, nor has ever been on my “To Do List”, especially when the kids were still in the studio. Like I said, at least I had Danielle with me, and at least the pictures turned out cute.  

Braxton and Carter also continued to add to their varied experiences this month. A couple weeks in I asked Michael if we were bad parents purely because of all of the crazy the places we were taking our kids!  By 3 ½ months they had already been to a bar, brewery, and tattoo shop. Doesn’t that sound terrible? At the beginning of the month I took them up to a bar (family friendly) for our good friend Mel’s 25^th Birthday Party. We also made 2 trips out to the Rogue Hop Farm and Taphouse here in Independence where they loved being outside. And finally Michael got a special tribute to his boys by getting tattoo on his arm for Father’s day. We had to of course go and approve the image and I couldn’t leave the kids in the car, so into the tattoo shop they went.  I guess I am going to have well rounded kiddos. Or at least I hope so.

This month the boys bond has continued to grow too. They are now acknowledging each other and can often be found looking at each other smiling or giggling. They really like to do this when one of them is in their bouncy bear chair and the other is on my lap getting burped. It is so cool to see them interact. I am not asking for it to come any faster than it already is, but it is going to be awesome seeing them play together once they get a little bit older. They have also completely switched their “roles” in our family these days. My sweet easy going Carter has become a demanding little dude. His “hollering” has intensified and we he wants something he is sure to let you know. He yells super loud, and then looks around as if to say “I know you heard me. Fix it. N.O.W.”  Braxton is getting more and more chill by the day and can fall asleep at the drop of the hat. That is much different than when they were little. Carter is still the morning baby who wakes up with the sun, and Braxton still cries when his brother wakes him up too early. Every once in a while BBoy and I get to stay up in bed and snuggle and sleep in while Dad and Carter head downstairs to play. It really does work out that one kid is like me, and one kid is like Michael.

Both boys are fitting very nicely into 6 month clothes and still gaining weight like crazy. At the 4 month appointment Carter was 16lbs 4oz (69%), 25.5 inches long (68%), and had a big noggin at 43.25cm (95%). Braxton passed his brother in weight and was at 16lbs 7oz (72%), also 25.5 inches long (68%), and had an even more giant head at 43.75cm (96%). The doctor said they were healthy, happy, hungry boys and we could transition them right into pureed foods because they were drinking so much milk. By the end of the month we were up to about 37oz EACH per day. That’s a lot of milk. So adventures in food will start this upcoming week. That should be a hoot to see.

First Trip to Portland

Because of their size we have transitioned into the jogging stroller and they love it. I love it too because I can pretty much take them anywhere without much concern. I however did not like the blowout Braxton caused at Saturday Market though. I swear my kids poop vertically, or explosively, or something because we have a blowout from one of them, or both, almost EVERY day! Braxton’s experience was out his diaper, shorts, down his leg, and all over the jogger. Of course we were all the way up in Portland and it was hotter than heck outside. By the time I got him all cleaned up we went through 2 travel size wipes containers, had poop all over the changing pad, and even on the bumper of the van. Leaving the door open so long caused us to have car problems and a dead battery, but got a jump, and still made it to the market and VooDoo Doughnuts. These days more than ever we just have to roll with the punches I guess.

Both boys have started what we can call the teething process, although they probably won’t actually get little chompers for several more months. They have both discovered their hands and love to put them in their mouth. BBoy is sure he can put both fists in there at the same time, and also tries to talk while his “mouth is full”. Michael tells him that he is speaking Chinese when he does it. Its pretty funny. Carter has also become even more skilled at breaking out of his swaddle in the middle of the night and sucking on his hands or attacking his face with them. Of course that wakes him up, and then we just cross our fingers that the morning baby will go back to sleep. Thank god for the Halo Swaddle wearable blankets though! I’m not sure what we’d do without them.

Even though they are twins and are so darn connected, the older they get the more different they get. Braxton is a super flirt, but will only flirt with women. It doesn’t matter who approaches him, if she smiles and says hello he grins and flirts right back. Cute old ladies especially love this. He has also become super expressive with his eyebrows and makes the funniest faces. Sometimes he will raise his eyebrows as if he is curious, or when he is surprised, but the best is when he raises just one.  Its hard to seem him do that and not laugh. He still HATES being on his stomach and tummy time, but he is doing great at therapy and technically got released. We’re still going to continue to go to make sure we don’t have any problems, but he has 100% range of motion (if you don’t count the face that his cheeks are so big they bump into his shoulder and block him from turning all the way – haha) so that’s awesome. Both kids have super chubby feet, but Braxton takes it to another level. He even has a roll on his big toe. Thank god its summer because I can’t fit either of their Flintstone feet in socks or shoes. Right now BBoy loves his jumperoo Grandpa Jay bought him and has figured out all he has to do is throw his weight around and the music and lights will play. He LOVES that. One time when we first got the jumpers and he was in it he sneezed and the whole system with motion activation went crazy. The look of surprise on his face was absolutely priceless. He continues to love to be snuggled before bed, but as I said can pretty much fall asleep anywhere, and if the binkie is not in his mouth, he still “phantom” sucks it, which looks pretty cute.

Carter has become quite the little giggler, and his little smile is priceless. Hearing him audibly laugh just warms my heart and its so fun trying to figure out what caused him to be so happy in that moment. To Michaels dismay I have taught him how to stick his tongue out almost on cue, and the kid thinks it is so hilarious when he sticks his tongue out and in response you do the same. He has also started this habit where he likes to hold up his leg when he is eating- which looks rather goofy, but he likes it. Even if you help him move his leg back down, within seconds it pops right back up again. Also when Carter is tired, you clearly know because he basically assaults his own eyes he rubs them so hard. Then he hollers at you wanting to be tree frogged. We are working super hard on helping him learn to self soothe and realize he doesn’t need to be tree frogged to go to sleep. More than one occasion I have laid on the couch or ottoman with a screaming hollering baby rubbing his head and convincing him it is ok to go to sleep. I have never seen a kid fight sleep like he does, but he doesn’t want to miss a thing I think.

Now that summer is here and we have really enjoyed family weekends together since Michael’s schedule is slowing down. We have been trying to get out and do things, like go to Saturday Market and the Rogue, and spend as much time in the nice weather as we can. We did learn we were not supposed to be putting sunscreen on them, even if it was baby sunscreen, until 6 months (ooops) but that’s ok. I just got a really cool gadget called a SportBrella XL so we can enjoy the nice weather and keep them in the shade. I am expecting the next month to be full of outside outings, an adventure in baby food, and some fun memories with family for the 4^th of July and other weekends. Our lives couldn’t be any better than they are right now and we are definitely blessed. Here’s to 4 great months, and all the excitement month 5 has in store for us.

Nobody like my Brother