Dressing Two Year Olds

This morning the boys were really showing their independence with me and I couldn't believe I was actually having a "clothes" disagreement with both boys.

It started out when I "quickly" opened their shirt drawer and Nicolas came running behind me to swipe out his "Truck" shirt. That in itself- no problem.

Christian then saw the opportunity to grab the famous orange "bug" shirt they both love ( which I only have one of). You can guess what happened...Nicolas saw the bug shirt on Christian and had a complete meltdown because he wanted to wear it! He was so mad and kept telling me he wanted "buggy" shirt.

Usually, I put them in the same clothes- not to be cute or make them look like twins but to avoid this!! All of this happened of course as I was running 15 minutes late to meet up with some friends at the park. I was trying to distract him with "do you want to wear a "special" jacket"? That backfired because then they both wanted the "special" jacket. What was I thinking? Quickly, I am trying to come up with which "special jackets" I had two of. Then Nicolas quickly informed me he wanted his BLUE jacket ..which was in the laundry. Another meltdown!

Now I have both tugging on my leg for their blue jackets! I seriously didn't know what to do because I just wanted to get out of the house and they were doing the "limp pose" and running from me. Finally, after what seemed like thirty minutes of wrestling shirts and jackets, breaking out in a sweat, exhausted already at 9:00 am - out of nowhere they started laughing and were happy as can be. It was like a light went off and they realized.. no jacket...no park!

Wow, they are becoming more and more independent , which I love in so many ways. I do want them to be independent, individual little boys, rather than just known as "the twins" (which I will blog about later) but geez fighting over clothes already! Morale f the story: "This is the true reason I dress them alike and I was exhausted at 9 am"!!

DADDY'S HOME!

My last blog was all about thank goodness Ken was coming home soon. Today is our 7th wedding anniversary - I can not believe how fast time has gone by!! Unfortunately, this year we won't be able to do much because we are cutting back on everything that allows me to be able to stay home with the boys- which is the best present there is!! Thanks Ken for working so hard so that I can be home with these little guys, even though I complain how tired, cranky and hard it is.. I still am so thankful that I can stay home and still loving every minute of it (Well...most of the time -unless they do not nap)!

Anyways, the boys were so excited to see him when he got home! I got to crash all weekend and rest!!! We got these little hats for them (you can get them for $1.99 at Michaels - all kinds of animals) and below is their sweet little happy faces! I got more photos of Nicolas because Christian was on the "fast" move and it's so hard to get his photo these days!

THANK GOODNESS FOR KEN!!!

Ken has been away the past three days and all I can say is thank goodness for him. He is such a great dad and helps me so much when he is home, wanting to spend every minute he gets with these little guys. At the end of the day is when I really APPRECIATE all that he does because while he was gone, these little guys went WILD!!

They decided during clean up, right before bed- when I was feeling the most exhausted - that they would help me by organizing all their little toys behind the couch by shape, color, size- while I was trying to clean up dinner. Even though my little helpers were doing a great job at sorting- it took me over 30 minutes to put the toys back!

My sister said I was out of breath when she was chatting with me as I was cleaning up. I actually got a 30 minute work out having to bend over, stand up and walk across the room because most of the toys went in different bins under the train table.

I do think it is fascinating how they worked as a team and really took the time to put things in categories. Look closely at the photos below how it progresses!

Then after bath (the same night) as I was taking the boys out of the tub, Nicolas quickly ran into my closet while I was getting Christian out of the tub and went potty in my closet in a matter of seconds! Of course I had to laugh when I ran to get him because he immediately broke out into his "happy dance"!!! Having to do two diapers in a row, two Pj's, walk two toddlers up the stairs and put them to bed at the same time - wow was it a work out!!!! THANK GOODNESS FOR KEN! I am not complaining- I wouldn't change this for the world, I am just thankful I have a husband that wants to help and does, especially after work.
Thanks Ken for working so hard so I can stay home!!! :)

Here is a few photos of the boys " clean up" job with sorting the toys. You will see how each photo shows their creative sorting... AKA..more work for mom while daddy's away!

Love These Little Guys

Here are some recent photos of the boys.

Love bug- Nicolas giving lots of kisses!

Nicolas giving grandma a big kiss! The boys with Brenda ( A.K.A- Nanna Brenda). Brenda who is a nurse, helped us the first 8 weeks of the boys life and has since then become a part of our family!
I love this picture of Nicolas with his hands in his pocket studying the farm animals and arranging them in a straight line!

Some things about the boys:

1. Napping once a day now for about 2-3 hours.

2.) They sleep most nights all through from about 7:15pm-6:30am ish.

3.) Raisin Bran is the favorite choice on most mornings. They can eat with their spoons, however they like to dump the cereal at the end of their meal and get any missed cereal. I think this is because they are still learning to scoop the bottom part of the bowl and getting it!

4.) Nap time is now in their bedroom together on most days ( for about a month now).

5.)New favorite show is Wonder Pets - which THANK GOD is better and easier on the ears than last months favorite: Yo Gabba Gabba.

6.) They talk about everything and especially love the words: No Mommy, Thank you mommy!

7.) Tantrums, tantrums and more tantrums.

8.) Bath time is the best.

9.) Parks are so much fun and we go usually two- three times a week- but usually only to a gated one. We meet up with a bunch of buddies each week and have lunch outside with them.

10.) Separation anxiety has kicked in FULL GEAR with them (as well as me)....a work in progress.

11.) Both boys know some colors! So far they have mastered: yellow, green, blue, white and red.

12.) SLOW MELT popsicles are the best invention.

13.) Both boys can count (or say) one, two, three - they are working on the word four but then go to five.

POLO

Sunday we meet up with some of our friends and took the boys to their first Polo Match! They love horses so we thought they were going to be fascinated with them.....instead they were my little social bugs. They ran for almost two hours, resting in between for some snacks!

My friend Jessica took this photo ( probably my favorite of the boys)! They were running on the field to get the divots. They were so excited at the opportunity to stomp on the divots. Nicolas broke out into his "Classic Happy Dance" after he would stomp on it.

Nicolas looking as the horses come onto the field.

Nicolas in his pure glory with daddy!

Beautiful Addison - a.k.a. .."Baby Addison"- as the boys love to call her. They also tell her they "love her to the moon and back"! She was the perfect Polo Girl- showing her support in her pink polo shirt!

If you can see below- the boys have their own monkey chairs - perfect for a polo match! Although we are using one to put the chips on!

Eating chips and more chips!

A perfect day - friends, food and awesome weather!

Craft Time With The Boys

With very active little boys I had to come up with something fun for the afternoons. So each day afternaps if we are not outside, we have indoor "Craft Time" which usually last about 20-25 minutes. It is so exciting watching them try these activities for the first time and see them have so much concentration and fun! Creativity has always been one of my stronger assets so I truly enjoy thinking of things and doing it with them. Being at home with them- this is one of the greatest little perks!

FINGER PAINTING FOR THE FIRST TIME!

STICKERS TO ADD TO THE PAINTING - MY LITTLE VAN GOGH

Christian not so sure about the whole finger part of it!

So we discovered paint brushes work just as good!

Last week Nicolas slept in very late so Christian and I decided to make " Dinosaur Homes" for their dinosaurs. We took Ziploc boxes and pasted paper over it. Then we colored and drew windows and doors. We even used the the colorful fuzzy sticks for grass!

Some of the other crafts we have been doing include:

• We made Homade Valentines - we learned about the shape of the heart. We made extra hearts and hung them from out kitchen light.
• We used construction paper and cut shapes and colors to make bumble bees ( yellow oval for body, orange triangle for tail, green for wings, circle for head and lines for stripes and antennas.
• ONE OF MY FAVORITES: I took white construction paper cut into a large sheep and we colored the head and legs. Then we glued cotton balls all over the body and worked on the concept of "soft".