17 Months

It's a rareity these days to get a photo of the two kids, in the same frame, not moving, and both smiling. Yesterday was a lucky day....

And just for fun, there's nothing like a 17 month old temper tantrum is there? Got that on film too...something about being stuck in a box was not good for JD.

Can't believe how far they've come!

Never too early....

...for a lax stick?

At this rate, he'll be a long stick defenseman; the only thing he likes to do is whack his brother with it!

Almost Monday...

The weekends always go so fast - here comes Monday again. I had a particularly fun and long overdue week last week which makes going back to work tomorrow that much more daunting. Lots to catch up on. My favorite Aunt Kathy was here last week and we had such a great time visiting. We had some nice quality time to catch up and just hang out. It was awesome for me, and for the kids. We miss you already Kathy!

It suddenly dawned on me today after having so much good quality time with the kids last week that they are no longer babies. We spent much of the weekend re-organizing to keep dangerous things out of the hands of our toddlers. They are everywhere, as are all 17 month olds so it was time to put away a LOT of things! They have changed so much lately and are exploring and learning more and more everyday.

JD is now trying to run - which is entertainment in itself. Cole is still not walking but he's crawling at record speeds and cruising as much as he can before he gets knocked over by his brother. We finally got rid of all bottles last week which was a huge relief for me. I've been hanging on to that last thread for many weeks now and we finally cut them out completely. Now I just need to wean JD from the sippy with milk at bedtime and we're good. It's impossible for me to believe that I've given my last bottle. ever. It is very apparent that the last few weeks of bottles were more for me than they were for the kids...

Last week Grampy bought the kids their first suckers. Not exactly the sucker I had in mind but it was fun to watch. They LOVED their sugar daddies - and we were able to see the sugar take full effect about 10 minutes in!

We had a small incident with a plant today - first so far. I was only about 2 feet away, making dinner and followed by about 30 seconds of silence (which you know is always a sign of trouble), I heard JD's devious laugh and turned the corner to see Cole shoving a handful of dirt in his mouth; followed by throwing up that same dirt. JD sat covered in it laughing his silly laugh. Wait until they figure out not too long from now that water mixed with dirt = mud (the photo doesn't look too bad - most of the dirt is hidden behind JD).

I'm just in awe at how grown up they are getting. Eating with forks, drinking out of sippy's, taking off thier shoes and socks, eating real food, understanding basic commands, going up and down the stairs alone, understanding the context of humor, giving hugs and kisses, finding their belly buttons - it's just amazing. I love seeing them every morning, wondering what the latest trick of the day will be.

We made a family trip to Target yesterday which required a speedy exit after about 30 minutes due to a melt down. Not unusual after being stuck in the stroller with so much to get your hands on. Our target trips will definitely involve riding in the shopping cart from here on out, not the "boring stroller". C. got his first taste of a public meltdown, which in itself was entertaining! Gone are the days of quick errands here and there while they sit passively enjoying the ride...A trip to chick-fil-a fixed them right up.

In other news, my friend R that I wrote about a few weeks ago (bedrest with trips) is doing really well. Sadly though, she did lose one of the babies. The other two babies are still hanging in there and she was even able to leave the hospital and go home to bedrest. We continue to keep her in our prayers as she mourns the loss of her little baby boy and stays strong for the other two so they can stay inside for a while longer.

Only a few more months until my new neice or nephew arrives. We're anxiously awaiting this little one - it will be so much fun to have a baby around again. I can't wait!!!

Nothing else to report. Here are a few recent pictures of the kids from this week. Off to watch the Terps game.

JD on the move...

Cole doing what he does best - sitting runner style

Great quote....

Life is short.
Break the rules.
Forgive quickly.
Kiss slowly.
Love truly.
Laugh uncontrollably.
And never regret anything that made you smile.

The little things...

Why couldn't I have thought of something so simple, yet so brilliant? These have cut down on my "swiffering" considerably!

Say it isn't so...

Some of you may know that my all time fave is the naked bongo player. Just heard the news yesterday that he's going to be a Daddy. What a lucky lady she is. Can you imagine the beauty of their child? Not many better looking than he is - except my husband of course ;)

The Old Days

I had the privilege of having dinner with four of my life long gal pals last night. We’ve been friends for over 30 years – can you believe that? WOW. It’s not often that we all can find a night that everyone can make it, without kids, during the week, for 3 hours of “us” time. But we made it work – and it’s probably the first time we’ve done it in 10 years. Since kids started arriving on the scene, schedules are just too hard to coordinate. We see each other all of the time for other events, but not often do we get the one on one time with just the old high school girls. We used our girlfriends impending twin boy delivery in May as a great excuse to get together, celebrate and see her growing belly.

Our discussions started out as catching up on the kids, parents, home life etc. And by the end of the night, we were all competing for talk time to bring up one more story out of the archives. We were debating whether OUR kids would be able to get away with what we got away with over all of those years. Some of our antics are almost unspeakable, others are the same as everyone else’s growing up. Nonetheless, we did all agree that we are lucky to be alive to discuss these stories as many of them gave us some pretty bad odds that we would even make it to be 30 some-things.

Since 3 out of 5 of us married people we went to high school with, many of our stories included our spouses before we got old and got married. Which sort of makes it even funnier. My girls were CRAZY way back when – and based on our New Years Eve celebration a few weeks ago, I must say that we have not changed all that much since then. We can still get our dance and drink on when we try!

We recalled many stories that were gut busting funny – like the time that J arrived at school (and stayed the entire day) under the influence and never got busted; and the time that R and I lied to a teacher and left school for a supposed school errand and went to the beach to lay out (and got busted by the way); and the Sunday afternoon when about 25 of us (all varsity athletes) got a keg and drove out on school property (on the baseball field) and had a co-ed field hockey game using the equipment we broke into the school after hours to get; or the many parties that we attended at “the temple” which was the area underneath an overpass on US Route 50; or all of the nights we spent at R’s house sneaking out of her basement with our boyfriends while her Mom was sleeping upstairs; and the time that L was driving us all and we almost flipped her car as we swerved to miss one of our teachers in her car; or when D stole a pack of sprees from 7-eleven and tried to blame L as the cops showed up at her front door; ah, the list goes on.

As I arrived home I noticed the local paper from a night or two ago sitting on the table with the headline being that one of the high schools had to close down a dance last weekend for “drinking and dirty dancing”. I had to laugh. Times are so different now – by virtue of the fact that I’m actually saying this out loud, makes me an official old person. But time passes and I guess that’s what happens. We grow old, and grow up. We become much like our own parents. We struggle with the toughest job there is in my view – raising kids in today’s world. The choices and decisions that kids now days have to face seem so daunting to me, even as an adult. As we all venture down this unknown path, doing the best that we can, it’s absolutely wonderful to have old friends to lean on who you’ve known forever. And even better, our kids will grow up and old together too.

Aside from the parenting perspective, it’s wonderful to have such awesome long time girl friends who are part of your life after all of these years. Our relationships have been forged over time and they will be there forever. Although we all have ventured in our different directions in life, we all come back to our core every so often. It’s not often that you stay connected so well with so many childhood friends and have the opportunity to live close by for frequent visits. We’re lucky to have each other aren’t we?

The Middle Place

I attended my first book signing ever last night. What an interesting event. I didn’t really know what to expect at such an event – but it was really a pleasant surprise. The author is Kelly Corrigan. She’s the sister of two lucky guys I know – these boys are crazy boys who I only knew in my younger years. They are grown up now (well, sort of). I happened to go to college with the younger of the two – and the older one had the pleasure of dating my college roommate & best friend for a long time. Suffice to say that there are many stories about all of them and meeting the third sibling in the equation was quite a pleasure. Kelly is a really cool person to meet. For so many reasons. She’s hysterically funny (which you will see if you read her book), upbeat, honest and she’s the kind of person who can carry on an endless conversation with perfect strangers. And when you walk away, you are smiling and you feel like you’ve known her forever. It’s really fun to meet dynamic people like that – it’s so refreshing. We sipped wine while Kelly read a few chapters from the book - one that made us cry, and one that made us laugh.

Although I’m only about half way through her book so far (trying furiously to find more hours in a day so I can get sucked in by the book again in my jammies under a blanket), I get it. She wrote the book when she was my age (she’s now 3 years older) and it’s so prudent to where many of us mid-life women (pigeons) are right now. We’re raising young families and trying to (or not to) worry about our parents. We’re in between being parents and needing our parents. Her writings are straight from her heart and based on her experience of being diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer with two small children and a husband. Only to find out shortly after that that her Dad was diagnosed with cancer too. She was trying to be a grown up, raise her kids, act like an adult when she was sidelined going through cancer treatment and finding that she needed her parents like she did when she was a kid. Low and behold, then she was forced to worry about her Dad's prognosis more than her own. She was caught in the middle. If you haven’t read the book, please pick it up. Especially if you’ve been through any sort of family crisis in your adult years, you’ll appreciate it so much. I didn't mean to make this into a commercial for her book - honest.

But I can relate. This happened to me once I got pregnant and started having problems with the pregnancy. My world got suddenly smaller and I needed my parents like I did when I was a kid; it was instinct to want them with me. They rallied with us through the storm – my Mom being by my bedside every single day, and MANY nights. I’m flooded with tears as I write this. I remember feeling a bit guilty that all I wanted was my Mom & Dad. I felt guilty because at this stage in our lives, my husband was supposed to be the only one I needed in my time of crisis.

Don’t get me wrong, with everything we had gone through over the years, he was my rock. He really was. And I like to think that I was his too as he struggled through some difficult times. But now, this was a whole different level of “need”. I was lost, scared and vulnerable. The very thing I had worked so hard for (children) might be taken from me. There’s no rationalizing that – all you can do is just rally through it. Kind of like cancer for Kelly. I guess it’s just part of the natural cycle of life – there will be a day when our parents aren’t there any longer for us; if not already for some. And then it’s too late to appreciate this “middle place”. Kelly’s message was to enjoy it while you can – it’s not a bad place to be.

It's always fun to meet an author in person - if nothing else than just to get the sense that they are a real person like you and I. It puts things in perspective and gives us a great appreciation for those who can put their feelings, thoughts and life events into words that the rest of us can relate to. And there's nothing like a good book that you don't want to end. My hat is off to Kelly for an excellent book that really hits home for so many.

Early am

This is usually how the kids start off their morning - it is VERY funny to watch and hear - they are in their own cribs but both get underneath the hanging quilt and play peek a boo and giggle with each other. Unfortunately I caught only the tail end on film but you can get the idea.



One of the biggest advantages of multiples is that they always have each other to play with. So far, they are pretty good play mates...time will tell! You can also see in this clip, JD has a new fondness for his blanky, which he tries to take everywhere with him. He especially loves to pull it out of his crib about a thousand times a day.

JD walks, Cole talks

I finally got a little bit of footage of JD walking - this was actually a few days ago so he's perfected it a bit more now - every day he seems to get a little more gutsy and take more chances. Walking is definitely his preferred mode of transport now. Cole is babbling like a mad man in this video - kinda funny to hear him chattering.