To our one-year-olds

Dear my precious boys, Asher and Felix:

I can hardly believe this day has come - you are one-year olds!  No longer babies, but toddlers.  I remember so clearly having you both in my tummy, and seeing and feeling your nightly dance parties.  I wondered whether my rib would ever recover after having four feet dance upon it!  The day you were born, I could not even imagine how we were going to survive with two tiny babies.  We not only survived, but flourished.  Your daddy and I feel so so blessed to have you both - we say it to each other every day.  Your dad loves to say, "Can you imagine how boring it would be to just have one baby?"  We love to watch you play together, or even use each other to climb up something you're not supposed to!

Asher - you are our little man!  At age one, you are 32 inches long (75th%ile) and weigh 19.8 pounds (10th%ile).  You may be destined to be tall and skinny - is basketball in your future?  You are taking some steps by yourself (about 4 at a time), and you love to walk around by holding on to furniture or our hands.  Your current favorite game is to put toys/balls in any box or container or bigger toy - mommy appreciates the help cleaning up!  You have developed a bit of a temper over the last few weeks - you are not shy about yelling when you don't like something (like staying still to change your diaper or get dressed)!   But, you're quick to smile big if mommy makes funny noises or plays Peekaboo, or if daddy holds you upside down and tickles you.  Your personality is ever changing and we are excited to see how you continue to grow and change!

Felix - you are the bigger, but younger, man!  You are also 32 inches tall (75th%ile) and you weigh 21 1/2 pounds (40th%ile).  As you can see, you like to eat more than your brother does!  You love to walk around, and although you can take up to 7 steps on your own, you can really move if you're holding on to something with one hand - you basically can run around the room!  You love it when I play chase with  you - as soon as I say, "I'm gonna get you!" you give me a big smile and crawl away as fast as you can.  You are very attached to me, and you will cry easily if you see me and I don't pick you up.  You also don't like it when your brother is upset, and you will even try to hug him if he's crying.  You have developed a very sweet temperament, and we look forward to seeing how you continue to change!

We had so much fun at your birthday party!  We had the party at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and it was perfect!  The weather was gorgeous, and there was lots for you to see and explore!  Asher, you loved eating your birthday barn cake, and Felix loved playing with his!  It was such a perfect way to celebrate the big day!

We love you more than words can say boys!  Year 2, here we come!

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday was Eric's first Father's Day, and we had such a wonderful weekend celebrating it!  The festivities started bright and early on Saturday morning, when we all took a trip to Carrboro for the farmer's market and a picnic breakfast at Weaver Street Market.  We try to do this every weekend that we can because we feel so at home in Carrboro (it's where we lived when we were dating/engaged) and because it's such a relaxing way to begin the weekend.  We got some great veggies at the market (lettuce, eggplant, tomatoes) and then had a nice breakfast on the lawn of WSM - the boys enjoyed a vegan sweet potato muffin and some apple juice :)  When we got home, we just hung around the house and played on the floor with the babies together - something we hardly ever have the chance to do because there is always a house project or school project to be done.  But, I am happy to say that absolutely nothing got done this weekend!  After many hours of playing and napping, we decided to take daddy out for dinner.  The babies haven't been out to dinner since they were tiny, because we didn't want to disrupt bedtime.  But, we took a chance, and decided to see how it would go.  Luckily, they had a blast!  We went to our favorite pizza place, and had some delicious slices (and a free beer for Eric, bought by the owner) while the boys played and flirted with the other customers.  It was their first time in restaurant high chairs!

After pizza, we sauntered down Franklin St. a bit and found a new frozen yogurt place, YoFruit (why one street needs like 3 frozen yogurt restaurants, I do not know).  It was quite good, and one of their flavors was Original Tart, which was just made from plain yogurt, so the boys ate some (ok, a lot) of daddy's helping.  They managed to stay awake all the way home (could be from the frozen yogurt...), and went to bed perfectly after a quick diaper and clothing change.  Eric and I watched Sherlock Holmes (Daddy's Choice!) - well, he watched it, and I made it through about 3/4 of it:)  What a great night!

The fun continued on Sunday.  Eric came down to find a card the boys had gotten for him, and then we had biscuits and orange juice (us) and muffins and bottles (babies) for breakfast.  For Eric's Father's Day gift, he got a new compressor and nail gun, and he used the compressor to quickly fill up our baby pool so the boys could take a dip.  They really enjoyed it and say they're ready for a dip in the ocean this weekend!

The day was topped off by a yummy dinner of my Grandmother's famous sauce and meatballs - yum!

Happy Father's Day honey - it was such a fabulous weekend!  We love you and are so proud of how hard you work - at work, school, home, and everything you do!

First Mother's Day

Happy belated Mother's Day to all you mothers!  I am so lucky to have a wonderful mother and a mother-in-law in my life, and I feel soo blessed to be able to be called a mother this year.  This is my new favorite holiday!!  I was able to sleep in on Sunday morning because Eric handled the early morning (5:45am) feeding.  The babies brought me their very own gifts in bed at around 8:00, before their morning nap.  They each were proud to hold their own gift bag, and were reluctant to let them go so I could have them.  I was pleased to see they know me so well already - two of my favorite candy bar (Caramello) and my one additive vice (Burt's Bees chapstick). Plus, they know I have my hands full, so they also were so thoughtful and got me one of those bluetooth phone ear pieces that makes people look schizophrenic:).  They had fun laughing hysterically at the tissue paper for several minutes, and then we all took a nice nap.  When we got up, Eric made me homemade waffles for breakfast.  Yum!  We all played for awhile, then took a family trip to the mall, although I didn't find anything.  Then it was back home for a quick lunch (Jimmy John's sandwiches for mommy and daddy; formula, oatmeal, and veggies for the babies), and then I got ready for my ladies' night out.  I had a great night with some girlfriends for dinner, drinks, and the Wicked show!  When I got home late in the evening, Eric sent me to bed and stayed up to clean diapers and wash dishes.  It was a fabulous day, and I am looking forward to next year!

Happy New Year

Ok, so I am a few days late, but Happy New Year to you!  What an amazing 2009 our family had.  I just know that each year will get better and better.  I can hardly believe the babies are 3 months old now!  Time really does fly, and we have to enjoy and cherish every moment.

We had friends over for the New Year festivities since we had two little bedtimes to abide by, and it was a lot of fun.  We had food, drink, and even our own ball to drop!  (Sure it was a bit smaller than the one at Times Square, and it was pretty much just a styrofoam ball with Christmas lights duct taped to it, but hey - it was funny!)

(Oh, and my New Years resolution is to lose this stubborn 12 pounds leftover from the pregnancy!  Now that I have typed it into the great blogosphere, perhaps I will actually do something about it...which means I may have to stop eating all the Christmas candy we received just because it's there...)

Happy New Year everyone!  May your year be filled with love and happiness!

First Christmas

Even though the babies are too young to remember this Christmas, mommy and daddy will sure remember!  (And if not all the details, that is what this blog and pictures are for, right?)

To begin our holiday weekend, Eric and I decided, against our credit card's wishes, to take the boys to the mall for a photo with Santa.  I think that, as a child, I only went to see Santa once or twice, and now I know why!  These photos should be lined with gold!  Anyway, we didn't want to regret not having the pictures when the boys get older, so we bit the bullet and forked over the dough.  We fed them, changed them, and were ready for adorable pictures with our happy, full, clean, and adorable babies.  This is what Felix looked like before we got to Santa...

And this is what he looked like when we got to Santa...

Luckily, that outburst only lasted a few seconds!  But, we couldn't retrieve the smiles from either baby, and so we got some cute but serious pictures :)  This isn't the one the photographers took, but Eric got this one from the designated parent area.

On Christmas Eve, we woke up to the babies' calls of hunger at 5:45 am (they are sleeping through the night now!!), and were on the road to Eric's parents' house by 7:30 am.  The babies spent a wonderful first Christmas with grandma, grandpa, aunt Jenni, great-grandmother, great-great aunt Dee, great-great uncle Joe, great-aunt Cathy, great-uncle Jim, and second cousins Hannah and Willow.  This was the first time the family has been able to see so many smiles and coos from the boys - they are getting so big and growing so fast!  Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Reading with grandpa

Felix in one of his Christmas outfits

Asher in matching outfit

Spoiled already! (In their Christmas sleepers and bathrobes!)

The new family - smile daddy!!

And, since baths don't wait just because it's Christmas, grandma offered to bathe the boys - little did she know she would have an audience of the whole family and several cameras!  How could we resist, when they're this cute?

Asher

Felix

All in all, it was a fabulous Christmas.  Everyone is looking forward to the coming years when the boys are toddling around and can open their own gifts - and undoubtedly just want to play with the wrapping paper and boxes!

Halloween 2009

Sorry this is a week late!  Life has become both extremely busy and extremely monotonous at the same time, so it is rare to find moments to blog.  But, I know I will appreciate looking back on this site in the years to come, and I know so many of you look forward to seeing updates, so here I am!  Chugging coffee and typing as fast as I can before the babies wake up again!

Asher and Felix reached the crucial 4-week mark last Friday - babies before 4 weeks old who contract a fever are subject to a full sepsis workup, including a spinal tap, and so our doctor advised us to keep them away from people as much as possible until 4 weeks.  Luckily, Halloween fell the day after week 4!  During the day, our friends Kristen, Ron, and their 7 month old adorable boy Aidan were in town from SC and staying with our other friend Jennie.  The whole crew trekked out to our house to visit and meet the babies.  It was so neat to see Aidan crawling around and playing with toys - it showed Eric and I what we have to look forward to in a few short months!  As everyone does, our friends commented on how tiny the babies were - even though they seem so huge to us since they started out so small at birth!  But, it makes sense that they would seem small since Aidan was almost 9 pounds when he was born!  It was a great time hanging out, catching up, and talking baby.  We look forward to visiting them in SC when the babies are a bit older!  We forgot to get a picture of the babies with Aidan, but we did snap some pictures of the babies in their Halloween onesies (Felix in orange, Asher in black).

And of their first "tummy time" session!  They did awesome - Felix has great neck strength already, and Asher is quickly catching up!

The fun didn't stop there!  Our good friends, Chris and Alysa, throw a Halloween costume party every year, and we were so happy to be able to finally bring the babies out into the world - and in cute costumes too!  They had a blast (meaning of course that they slept virtually the whole time), and mom and dad were happy (although exhausted) to be out of the house and surrounded by good friends.  We were a "safari" family, with dad as a tribal warrior, mom as a tourist, Felix as a giraffe, and Asher as a tiger.

It was a great day all around, and we look forward to many more to come!