Slideshow of the boys

My Favorite 2.5 Year Old

Just a couple of pics of my favorite toddler. He was all ready for preschool on a very rainy day. He's really a good kid, but MAN does he like to test. If I say don't touch, he gives me the most evil grin and touches it again, slowly, deliberately. He was in major time out in his room yesterday three (THREE) times in a matter of 3 hours. First, he poured an entire bottle of baby shampoo into the baby bathtub. I thought he was in the yard, playing while I was drying and dressing Trevor. Second, he would NOT lower his voice while the babies were sleeping and proceeded to wake them up. He seems to only have one volume and that's earth shattering LOUD. At that same moment we had a "no touching" incident that I already explained so off he went. Third, he put his feet on the table three (THREE) times at dinner. This was after I calmly (and when I say calmly, I mean very quiet, very direct, very "calm before the storm" calm) told him to get his feet off the table. My little tester. I'll have to ask my mom if I was like this...

Ta Da!

Say cheese!

To Infinity and Beyond!

A few weeks ago, October 3rd to be exact, Jeff took Zach to see the re release of Toy Story. I had already gotten him the Buzz Lightyear costume (it was a toss up between Buzz and Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba). His obsession with Toy Story began this past summer when we went camping and brought with us the portable DVD player. It came in very handy, especially at meal times and when he would wake up at 5:30 am every morning. Little did we know he would want to watch Toy Story every single time. Nothing else, not Ice Age, not Baby Einstein, not Thomas the Train...it was always "Buzz and Woody!"

So I'd been anticipating the movie coming back to theatres, knowing my little man would LOVE it. That morning we wanted see what the costume would look like. Zach wanted nothing to do with it so we wrangled him to the ground, hog-tied him and got it on him. Well, of course once he saw himself dressed as Buzz, he would NOT take it off! We had to wrangle and hog tie once again at nap time to get it off him! Go figure.

I told Jeff, "You should take him to the movies with him wearing his Buzz costume!" Jeff thought that idea was "lame". His exact words. "No, that's totally lame". I told him, "I'm not asking YOU to wear a Buzz costume...he's 2!" Well, when Zach woke up from his nap and the first thing out of his mouth was "Wear Buzz!" Jeff relented.

For the record, apparently everyone thought he was adorable and kept saying, "Wow, he must really like Buzz!" Haha...

I asked Jeff how many other kids were dressed up and Jeff told me just Zach. Haha again.

Getting ready to go

How could you NOT let him wear it? Look how happy he is!

Jeff "flying" Zach around while he yelled "to infinity and beyond!"

Oh, and the first thing he said when he had his costume on and realized he liked it was, "I wanna FLY!" Uh oh...I had visions of him climbing up my entertainment center and launching himself.

The Proper Care and Feeding of Boys

These were taken a few weeks ago...I'd completely forgotten Jeff had taken them.

This is how we often feed the twins. Jeff showed me this technique one day when he was bragging how he did his middle of the night feeding in about an hour. I was like, WHAAAAAT?? It takes me about 2.5 hours, but that includes pumping. So he showed me the prop-the-bottle-squared technique. Zach was helping out for this feeding. He has to earn his keep somehow.

Oh, and this proves that he is related to his Nana. Picture with his eyes closed. I think there are 4 pictures in existence of my mom with her eyes open.

Cuddle time on a Sunday morning

Not everyone enjoys cuddle time

And they like to trade off who enjoys cuddle time and who doesn't

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, we went out to Pierce college in the valley, where they have a great pumpkin patch. We'd never been there before, but it's definitely worth the trip. They had a bunch of rides and activities for the kids, fair food and of course, pumpkins.

My little pumpkin, Dylan. My, what big eyes he has!

Zach had a great time, even though he's still getting over yet another cold. His little voice is raspy...that's never happened before...it's pretty darn cute.

These pics are all out of order...I'm too tired to care...lol. The fact is I've had this post in the works for 4 days now and at 5:30 am can finally find the time to write the text to it.

Bumper boats. He did not fall in but we were watching him like a hawk far any "To Infinity and Beyond!" moves.

Almost the whole family. Zach wasn't in the mood to say cheese.

I don't know who's showing more teeth...me or the horse.

Getting friendly with the goats.

Ice cream!
Pretending to be a farmer on his little John Deere
Choo choo train!

Waving to all his fans...such a ham!

I was telling him to smile and he mimicked what I was doing

After the patch, we met Jeff's parents at Maggiano's for some dinner. It was a Saturday night, already crowded and I thought, "oh, this is NOT a good idea." We eat at places these days where we can leave at a moment's notice. It all ended up being fine...Trevor had a little meltdown but I walked with him a bit by the banquet rooms and he settled. Zach surprised me by NOT wanting the kid's spaghetti I got him (not the surprising part) but wanting the "BIG noodles" that we were all eating. Just when you think you know your kid...

Before we got our table, I took Zach outside to burn off some steam. We ended up in Barnes and Noble, where of course I bought him a few books. While in line (forever!), he was entertaining everyone. He was looking at an M&M puzzle, asking me, "Where's M&M's?" I would tell him it's not candy, it's a puzzle and he would sing, "puzzle, puzzle, puzzle...". Too cute. He was Mr. Chatty Cathy that night and I could hear the people in line tittering as he would talk about the M&M's or grandma or books or Buzz and Woody or anything else under the sun. As I was paying and collecting my receipt, he says, quite loudly and VERY clearly, "Momma! I have my hand in my butt!" Sure enough, there's my blue eyed blondie, with his hand down his pants....beaming with his little diastema showing. Well, the crowd went wild and were out and out laughing...no more tittering. I laughed all the way out of the store.

Pirating Picture People

At preschool, Picture People came and took school pictures. Can you believe we've never had professional pictures taken of Zachary?
I don't know why...I can't wait to do it again!
They were there on 2 days. The first day, being the astute, on-top-of-it-mom that I am, I forgot it was picture day. No pictues that day because his outfit was not chosen well, and his hair was probably not brushed. The next day, Zach was not going to preschool, but we threw an outfit on him, quickly ran a comb through his hair and Jeff ran him down for his picture. I will be much better prepared next time!
I think they turned out so cute! I guess he listened to what the lady said and did all the poses. He always says "CHEESE" when he has his picture taken, so that's the deal with his tongue out!

They gave us the package, and we're to keep the sheets we want and give back the ones we don't want with a check. Now, of course I'm buying 3 sheets, BUT Jeff did scan them into our computer so we can make more...hee hee.

Pretending to be a Photographer

Again, I attempted to do a photo shoot with the boys and use my fun camera without really knowing anything about it. The twins are doing really well. Trevor is well over 9 lbs, probably creeping towards the 9.5 mark. Dylan is probably over 8lbs. I should weigh them today. Maybe after their baths.
We think Dylan may be alittle colicky (Not sure how to spell that...). He's always been the more feisty one, but I would say at least one feeding out of 6, he screams, claws at his face, flails his little limbs around. He's literally like an angry little vulture. Hungry, but mad as hell. Jeff was really concerned. I can somewhat understand because he gets home and gets to witness the witching hour. He doesn't know that all day he's been a sweet little bug-a-boo. So, I called the Dr and described what's happening. I told the Dr. that he wakes up and he's p-i-s-s-e-d. It's the best way to describe it. The doc said that it sounds like classic colic. He recommended some Gripe Water. It's an herbal thing with fennel and something else that is supposed to calm babies bellies. Dylan has only been on it for a few days and it's either purely coincidental or the stuff actually works, because he's been quite a bit better. We are so not used to this crying baby thing. Zach was such an easy baby...a fact I certainly didn't appreciate then because I didn't know any different.
Other than that, the breastfeeding/nursing/pumping thing is not going as well as I'd hoped. Dylan is a lazy eater so I've stopped nursing Dylan. In a 30 minute nursing session, he'll take in an ounce. He drinks his bottles slow, too. So he's on bottles only. Trevor nurses great. However, it can be tricky to nurse him and prop a bottle for Dylan...if he chokes or needs attention, my boob pops out of Trevor's mouth and that's frustrating for him. Also, when Zach is home and added to the mix, it's quite close to impossible to bottle one, boob the other and pay attention to Zach so he doesn't climb on my head...literally. Also, I've got this schedule thing looming over me. For example, breastfed babies will often eat, and then maybe an hour or two later, will want a snack. That throws my feeding schedule off and I can't have that. This happened a few weeks ago and thank goodness I got them back on schedule...I can't be feeding all day at different times...it's all I'd be doing! The pumping is also starting to get difficult. Finding the time to pump is difficult most days. Either one of the boys is awake/fussy and if they are both sleeping, I have a small window of opportunity to do the 300 things I need to do. By the time I sit down to pump, someone wakes up and then I'm screwed. Again, adding Zach to the mix only makes it more difficult. My supply has decreased substantially, but I will keep it going as long as I can without losing my sanity. They are 10 weeks, so if I make it to the three month mark I'll have to be happy with that. I'm just so glad I got to have such a wonderful nursing experience with Zach because I really loved it and so looked forward to it this time 'round. Ah well...

Lots of boobie talk today, sorry to any men reading this. Or your welcome...whichever you prefer.

Some pics:

Trevor really wants to see that new movie "Zombieland". Yes, he told me. He tried to nurse his brother's head for a good 5 minutes. Dylan was a good sport until finally he was d-o-n-e. He was like, "GET HIM OFF ME!"


Ok, so this turned out stupid-amazing. I don't know how I did it, what setting the camera was on, how my lighting was...nothing. I do know I fully lucked out.
(Trevor, by the way)

Trevor on the left, Dylan on the right. Dylan wasn't loving the photo shoot today. He was crying his head off, which is why he looks constipated...fast button action in between wails.

We resorted to using the pacifer in between shots, but you could tell we'd pull it out and snap a picture...his tongue was still in curled paci mode. Trevor is thoroughly enjoying his close up. Or he's enjoying giving me the bird...not sure which.
As you can see, we are still taking Dylan to the tanning booth. His skin tone does not look so radically different than Trevor's in person, but the camera really makes it show up.

The Walker's House

A few weekends ago, our friends Joe and Julie invited us over to their house for a pasta dinner. Of course, we accepted! A meal I didn't have to cook and great company...it was a no-brainer! They have two kids, Luke who is 4 and Riley who is 2.5. She is 3 weeks older than Zach, as a matter of fact. We all go camping together and have been friends for 10 years.

The kids "eating" their pasta. It was more playing than eating.



Julie and I and who knows who was in the sling. I DO know it was the fussy one.

Miss Riley and her ice cream cake face.

Zach and his ice cream cake face. I would normally bet that more got on his face than in his tummy, but we're talking ice cream here. I know he got a TON in his tummy!