Swimming, Baby Cakes, and Our First Party

Checking out the Present for our first birthday party at the neighbors house
Liam and Mom
Happy Brothers!

Fun in the Pool
Luke Enjoying Baby Cakes (i.e. Pancakes)
Mmmm Good
Checking out the Napkins while waiting on a bath after pancakes

Luke and Liam did several new things this weekend and enjoyed all of them. The boys were invited to their first birthday party for a neighborhood friend that turned one year old over the weekend and they enjoyed their first taste of cake and ice cream! They loved it, of course, and won't be missing out on ice cream with John and I as parents. Although this was not the first time they have been swimming, we did put up the plastic pool on the deck and they both enjoyed the water. Liam loves to chill out in the water and just look around while Luke kicks his feet and splashes the entire time-pretty characteristic of their personalities at this point. Another fun thing we typically do on Sundays is make pancakes. The boys love to eat pancakes and are finally learning to pick up the little pieces and put them in their mouths. The whole ordeal makes a pretty big mess, but they are a lot of fun to watch. The dog, of course, was in charge of the floor clean up so we had a little help in that area.

Curly Hair and Sleeping Angels

Liam Playing in the Bouncy Swing (still no hair!)
Mom's Curls in Preschool

Luke has a few curls coming in

Liam napping on his belly
Luke napping

Although Liam is still pretty bald, Luke has been getting a little bit of hair. He has some little curls on top just like Mom had as a child. While my hair is not as curly as it used to be, it was quite curly as a child. I tried to get a pictures of Luke's little curls, but they are a little hard to see. I will post a picture of myself in preschool where you can somewhat see the curls.

The boys are also getting bigger to the point that we can't put them in the same crib to sleep anymore. This was particularly hard for John to accept, but it was pretty clear that they were not going to sleep if they were not separated! Luke is a very light sleeper and is woken quite easily so we put them in separate rooms to nap during the day. Liam, on the other hand, is a good sleeper but has to have his little "lovey" which is a little stuffed dog or bunny. We have a couple different things as he has not really developed a preference yet. Luke loves to yank things out of his brother's hand (i.e. the lovey) so the set up in one crib was not working well. The boys are also using their swaddle blankets as a blanket now rather than being swaddled with them. As people who visited us can attest, we used the swaddle blankets all the time until recently. I took two pictures of the boys napping today. Liam has just started sleeping on his belly and Luke likes to spread out.


Enjoy!

Happy 7 Month Birthday Liam and Luke!!

Fun in the Grass
Monkey Liam
Playing with Dad
Luke (left) and Liam (right)

Helping Mom open her Birthday gifts
Trying out the new Swings
The best part about the swings!
Liam-always checking things out, no time for sleep!

The boys are 7 months old on August 11, 2008 and growing so fast. We had a very nice weekend and enjoyed lots of time outside. John gave me some swings for the boys for my birthday and they love them. Luke even managed to fall asleep while swinging last night which is quite an accomplishment considering nights tend to be a little fussy for us. The boys slept completely through the night without a single peep on my birthday giving me a very nice birthday gift.

We are enjoying the Olympics as well. I love to watch gymnastics, track and field, the marathon, and women's cycling. John has enjoyed swimming, cycling, and the running events as well. My personal favorite is all the stories associated with how the athletes achieved their goals.

We hope you all had a nice weekend!

Our First Babysitters

Our First Babysitters-The Maymirs
Wee!!!!!
Luke enjoying the swing
Liam trying to figure the swing out

Twice the Babies and Quadruple the Babysitters....The boys had their first babysitters (outside of our family) last night. Our good friends the Maymirs offered to keep the boys so John and I could go out to dinner. It was great timing since it ended up being a dinner to celebrate my birthday as well (08.8.08). The Maymir family graciously entertained Luke and Liam for a couple of hours so that we could escape for dinner and a few errands. We had a wonderful time and appreciate their kindness.

As an aside, I can remember several years ago when my birthday occurred on 08.08.88 and just in case anyone is interested...in 2011, the boys will have a birthday date of 01.11.11.

The boys also went to the park for the first time yesterday and enjoyed the swings and beautiful MN weather. Luke especially seemed to enjoy the idea of swinging. Liam warmed up to it, but was a little concerned at first. Liam always has to check things out for awhile before he starts to "enjoy" it.

We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Bathtime & Beer

Getting Ready for Bathtime
Liam (left) and Luke (right)-Liam tends to float a little in his Bumbo because he is so light!
Liam (he still has some food on his face)
Luke
Here is Dad with some of his home brew

Don't worry, our bathtime had nothing to do with beer but we probably got your attention anyway! We are quickly outgrowing our kitchen sink so today mom gave us both baths in the big bathtub and we played with our bath toys. We like the water a lot, especially when it is not too cold.

For Father's Day, we gave Dad a home brewing kit. He promised mom two things: 1) He would not make a huge mess in the process because he could do most of the brewing either in the basement or garage and 2) When the boys get older, he can brew root beer with them so mom will have several hours to herself! Well, we popped open the first stout the other night and it turned out quite nicely. John was very proud of his brewing accomplishments.

We hope everyone is having a nice week and staying cool. Minnesota has summers that would make people in the south long to move up north. We are so fortunate not to have all the miserable heat and humidity.

Being Silly and Our First Storytime

The boys and I went to our first storytime at the library this morning. This class was geared towards children between the ages of 0 and 24 months so you can imagine the atmosphere. It was quite funny to me. There were kids screaming, laughing, running, jumping, clapping, etc...It was constant activity. The boys were pretty much in awe and spent the first 10 minutes or so just staring at everything around them. They liked the music and enjoyed the books. We met another mother of 18 month old twin boys. The first question I typically ask is-"Does it get any easier as they get older?" The response is always "yes, it gets easier in most areas and harder in others, but always rewarding and fun."

I am also posting a few pictures of the boys being silly while they were playing today as well as a picture of our pottery that we made on vacation. We have each of the boy's footprints and a train in the middle. We often refer to them as the "LL Train" because it often feels as if we have been run over by a train at the end of a long day. John and I are definitely not overly artistic, but painting the pottery was actually pretty fun. We appreciated the extra help from Aunt Ann and our cousin Caitlin to entertain the boys while John and I painted.

Enjoy!

Happy August!

Ready or not, here we come!!! The boys are really looking like they are going to be a lot more mobile pretty soon. John and I thought it was hard to keep up with them right now, much less when they are running in opposite directions. They are both very close to sitting up and trying to scoot a little on the floor when trying to reach a toy. They are rolling over more consistently from stomach to back and then back to stomach.

The boys also had a pediatrician's appointment this week. Luke is still quite a few pounds heavier than Liam. Liam continues to be leaner than his brother, but within normal for his own growth curve. Both boys are well within the normal growth curve without any adjustments for the fact that they were premature.

Luke: 19 lbs 10 ounces

26 3/4 inches long

45.8 cm head circumference

Liam: 15 lbs

25 inches long

44 cm head circumference

Have a wonderful Weekend!