10 Truckloads of Toys

Merry Late Christmas and Happy New Year from my sweet growing 10 month olds! The last month for us has been wonderful and the excitement surrounding their first Christmas was so much fun. I waited and waited for years to share this special time with my little ones, and we were all blessed to have a wonderful December and holiday season.

Christmas Morning opening their
stockings from Santa. 

Christmas was just downright fun with almost 10 month old babies. Both Santa and Grandparents were so good to the boys, though they likely would have been happy with just the wrapping paper. It is the little things that make them happy these days and it makes me smile. Don’t we all wish we had that naive innocence back where just a simple piece of paper could make our day? However, I swear somehow Michael did magic work cramming 10 truckloads of toys into the back of the Van and CRV. My mom says they can't be spoiled, they are just extra loved. I think they are just spoiled. Ha. 

9 month Photo Shoot. Dec 8th

I put my tree up the weekend before Thanksgiving and the boys loved it.  They couldn’t get enough of the lights or the “pretties” hung on the branches. Braxton especially could always be found camped out in front of or pulling up on the Christmas tree gate we had to set up to keep the curious fingers from pulling the tree on top of them. And if any of you know me, you know I go all out with my home decorations too. I expected the boys would immediately love all the singing and dancing animals and decorations I have, but it took them a significant amount of time to warm up to the music, moving mouths, and obnoxious “Ho, Ho Ho” that came from the Santas. However, by the time we got up to my parents house the week before Christmas they were pro’s and their favorite animal was a little stuffed beaver dressed as Santa that sang “Under the Mistletoe”. We heard that song so many times my mom had to replace the batteries. I think we were all happy when the little beaver found his way back to the Christmas box in the garage.

My guys are independent, spirited, and curious. They, like so many kiddos, were not a fan of Santa, and we joined the screaming Santa picture club when we took them to meet the guy in the big red suit. It took them no time at all to figure out how to open Christmas presents, which started while they were breaking into a present a day early while Papa Sir and I tried to take pictures of them wrapped in Christmas lights. Of course he let them continue to open the package because Papa Sir lets them do whatever they want, and once they opened their kid sized BBQ, they were present opening specialists. Along with the BBQ a few other favorite gifts were their Dino Popper from Santa, ride on trucks from Grandpa Jay and Grandma Shelly, and a LOUD kid version guitar from Uncle Chan and Auntie Ashley. Everything that is a favorite sings and makes lots of noise. Of course.

Some other holiday highlights included family, fun, and Santa hats, salt dough ornaments with the play date group,  basically what every Christmas should be. We took them to zoo lights, out in the crowds to do last minute shopping, on a trip to Seattle to see my MS doctor, and even to their very first Christmas Eve mass at St. Vincent where Michael and I got married. One day the boys and I even got to go to lunch with their Uncle Chan where they ordered off of the kids menu for the first time. Neither of them could get enough of the cheese quesadilla, rice or beans at the Mexican restaurant. I couldn’t believe how big they looked sitting all by themselves in the high chairs and self feeding. 

If they weren’t eating everything before, after the Christmas trip there was nothing they didn’t try. They were definite fans of the whole turkey and traditional holiday dinner, LOVED bites of my prime rib on Christmas, tried and liked eggplant parmesan and spaghetti at the Olive Garden, and couldn’t get enough of Papa Sir’s cinnamon pears. The holidays were hard on all of our waistlines.

We got a little snow in Oregon this
month. They weren't too sure about it. 

Beyond Christmas, this was a great month for other milestones. Both boys gained 2 more teeth on the top (Carter 12/8 and 12/25 and Braxton 12/14 and 12/26) which will for sure come in handy with their expanding diet. Both are extremely mobile, even though Braxton still does his crazy leg propelling army crawl. And both decided this month that sleeping through the night wasn’t something they wanted to do much of. I swear Michael and I have spent more nights in different beds this month than we have in the same. Fingers crossed this is just a phase.

If we moved to a deserted island there would be only a few things the boys would need to be happy. Lots of food and banana cookies, Disney junior, toys that make noise, and mom or dads keys, iPhone, or TV remote. Seriously, if you ever need Braxton or Carter to come to you, just drop your keys, iPhone, or TV remote on the ground. I swear these are all baby magnets and within seconds of them hitting the floor a child will appear. The boys aren’t getting into things too much yet, but if you leave these precious gems anywhere within their reach, you better expect them to be taken. I am excited that they are getting around a lot better, but I am not looking forward to all the extra baby proofing that is in our future.

Braxton

Braxton has started pulling himself up on things and continues to love standing more than sitting. He is pretty proud of himself when he can do it all on his own. I just about melted when our nanny sent me the picture of him standing while holding onto the Christmas tree gate. He looked so grown up. This month he has really grown a lot more hair and is finally loosing his Terry Bradshaw haircut, thank goodness, but has silly wispy hair that has grown over his ears and into a “rat tail”. The poor kid can’t catch a hair break. He still jabbers like crazy and laughs even more and has decided he loves to put things on his head. If you balance a toy up there he will hold really still for 5-6 seconds until he can’t contain his laughter and collapses in a giggling heap. Carter likes to sit back and watch this go on and usually ends up in a laughing fit too. 

BBoy does everything the way he wants to, including randomly deciding he will spit out his mandarin oranges that he once loved just because he can, or throwing the biggest fit because he needs his clothes changed this time and having no problem with it the next. This kid has more of his Mama in him that just his looks.  He is figuring out what he wants, and how to express it. He gets his stubbornness from me, but we both laugh together more than anything. If you get a camera out he turns into a super ham, and his big smile is hard to resist. Like his mama had, he also has a HUGE gap between is top front teeth. One can only hope the other teeth that grow in will make that gap close up, or we’ll have some serious orthodontist bills in our future.

Carter

Carter is still my little bird. He too is pulling up on things, but he sticks his little butt out like a bird and doesn’t stand straight. He has mastered his crawl and is super fast about it. Braxton tries hard to keep up, but Carter can lap him easily. He is still a better sleeper than B for sure, but if he misses a nap then all hell breaks loose. Carter has always been thinner than Braxton, but his month he is growing taller and looks more and more like a little boy. (I am not a fan of this by the way) His hair still is super heavy down the center, almost like a reverse skunk, and we can’t spike it anymore because it is so long. We had pictures done outside at the beginning of the month and Carter’s blue eyes looked so pretty. I am so glad both boys kept their blue eyes.

No matter what I do I can’t keep socks on this kid. Carter pulls them off within minutes of me putting them on, and when he is sitting in his carseat its even faster then that. My mother is always on my case about his feet needing to be covered and them being cold, but unless I duct tape them on, I’m out of luck. Silly boy. Regardless of any struggles I have with either boys, I laugh way more than I do anything. They seriously can brighten any day and I LOVE being a mom of boys.

2013 was really good to us. Our boys came into this world and changed our lives so much. I couldn't feel any more blessed to have these sweet 10 month olds in my life.