Cute as a button

Well we didn't do much today other than recooperate from yesterday. Yesterday afternoon was really rough on the kids. John and I went to view the 1 year photos at 3 yesterday and we had so much to go through we didn't get done 'till 5:30. The kids' afternoon nap is supposed to be from 2:30 - 4/4:30,but that didn't happen since we weren't home. They did really good, but were so tired by the time we left. They slept in the car on the way home but we couldn't get them to take a quick nap afterwards so they just fussed until bedtime. Jake was so restless last night too that he didn't really go to bed until midnight. He cried, tore the bumpers off his crib, cried because he tore the bumpers off his crib, cried because he lost his paci's in the bumpers he tore off his crib, etc. He was just so exhausted, but too wired to sleep. So a morning of just lounging (in our new comfy outfits from Grammie) was in order.The kids looked so cute so I had to snap a few pictures. Here they are playing with the forbidden china cabinet. They know not to play with this, but they love to pound on the glass. As they approach it, they always turn to look at me, smile, then run towards it and pound away as fast as they can before I take them away.

Oh So Pretty!

Jake was feeling a bit better today so we went to visit my SIL and her kids. We had a blast visiting with them and even got the guys to grill a bit for lunch. The kids are really getting to an age where they are "playing" together and ready to check out new people. This past week my SIL has been working on converting one of their rooms to a playroom for her twins and I have to say I'm jealous. It is so great to have a room all theirs that you don't have to pick up toys in. Her kids would come out and play with everyone in the den then just crawl off to the playroom when they wanted to go in there. It was great! If we had the room I'd do that, but I can't give up my office and I don't really want to give up my guest room just yet. So for now, we'll just use our den as the playroom too (or drive to Aunt Lisa's to play with her stuff!). While we were over there we got all four of the kids dressed in their Easter outfits for pictures, but it's getting tough with all four mobile. Plus we did it at the end of the day so they weren't really in the mood for pictures. Especially Jake! He really didn't fuss much during the day until after we got him dressed and set him in front of the fireplace for pics. He just burst into tears at that point. Poor thing...he did the same thing for the Christmas photos we took with all four of them.

Jake didn't want any part of this.


Abby had so much fun!


Ethan's the man!


Ahhh! Catch them!


This was the only picture Jake smiled in - after we gave him puffs.

Feeling a Little Down

We haven't done much this week as the kids (mainly Jake) have been fighting bugs. Monday morning was super fun...I walked into their room and Abby had diarrhea all over her and her crib...Jake had thrown up all over everything. I immediately turned around leaving both kids in their cribs and told John to join me in the kids' room when he got out of the shower as I needed help cleaning everyone and everything off (Now that I think about it, I should have just brought one of the kids with me and given them to John to wash off!).
They had two different bugs...Abby a stomach bug which only lasted 24 hours, Jake a fever, cough/cold thing. We took him to the doctor since his fever was high and they tested for flu and strep but both came back negative. Anyway, the Motrin had been keeping the fever down and Wednesday he actually woke up without a fever so I thought he was getting better. But Thursday morning he caught Abby's stomach bug and had diarrhea everywhere and a fever back up to 101. Needless to say, we've had to postpone the milk thing. Abby actually prefers the milk, but since she got sick the day after starting, we had to take her off it and we are just now slowly getting her back on it. Jake had been on it 25%, but with his diarrhea, I've taken him off it and will start him back on it after that's gone.
Oh fun times...and who would have thought I could talk so freely about bodily fluids! Oh to be a mom.

Playful Pups

Jake & Abby have always been fascinated with the dog door. Jake first showed the curiosity with the door when he learned how to crawl. Abby saw how interested Jake was and quickly became fascinated with it too. At first I tried to keep them away from the door which was a tiring task. They'd go up to the door, I'd say "no", carry them away and then repeat. I finally gave up thinking maybe if I didn't show that I cared if they played with the door they'd loose interest. And up until now they really just pushed on it and laughed every time the dogs went in or out, but today they got the courage to go through the door. They got stuck half way so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to grab a few pictures. I know soon they'll figure out how to go completely through and then I'll have to start looking for them outside when I can't find them!

Hippity Hop!

Happy Easter! We were going to travel out of town for Easter this weekend, but my niece was sick and we didn't want to risk the twins catching it so we stayed in. The kids got up at their normal time and ate a great breakfast. (Today was also our first time to try milk and Abby actually seems to prefer it to her formula! Jake's only getting 25% milk / 75% formula due to his sensitivity to milk, so far no issues and hopefully he'll transition to 100% milk in about 2 weeks. But I digress.) While the kids were eating I "hid" the Easter eggs in the den. They saw me and started getting excited (mainly because they saw me put puffs in a few of them). After they finished eating we turned them loose. They only had 6 eggs to find (3 each) so we didn't think it would take long, but it turned into an all-day affair. Abby found the first egg on the coffee table and didn't move on from there. She stood there playing with her egg. Jake tried to steal it, but I showed him another one on the couch and he crawled over to the couch to grab it. Then noticed there were puffs inside so John opened it up for them to eat. That was it for this morning. It was time to get dressed for church and head out. The rest of the day, they played in the living room finding the remaining three eggs every now and then. The egg hunt was really for us, but we all had fun. I hope everyone else had a great day too!

Officially Toddlers

My babies are no longer babies. We have officially entered the world of toddlerhood. We had our 1 year check up and babies, um toddlers, were given a clean bill of health. We can also make the switch to whole milk and let them eat anything now. No more restrictions. Although I'll have to gradually switch Jake to milk (mix milk and formula together for a while) to make sure he has no allergies to it. If he does, we'll have to go back on the formula. I was hoping we could at least make the switch to soy, but the doctor said more kids have issues with soy than milk. Hopefully he'll switch okay. Jake also didn't pass the weight requirement to turn his seat around and probably won't make it until 18 months old. We go back in 3 months for another check up and we'll see then (keep your fingers crossed that he gains at least 2 more pounds in 3 months). Since Jake can't flip around yet, we're going to keep Abby facing the same way for now. Here's all their stats for the interested parties:

Jake
18lbs 13 oz
29"

Abby
20lbs 10 oz
29-3/4"

We also had their 1 year pictures taken this afternoon which was fun. We didn't go to our normal place so we don't have the photos yet. We'll go pick out the poses next week and order the prints then. As soon as we have something we'll pass them along to all.