Almost the end of August

Funny Monkey faces :)



Eden was really hamming it up this day!

Monster Video

Speech

After a 2 hour car ride this afternoon with plenty of snacks and drinks provided, nice new tinted windows to keep out the heat, and soothing music on the radio, the boys refused to take an afternoon nap. This was followed up after getting home & being changed with a minimum of a 30 minute crying episode, half together in their room, half separated with Eden in the Pack'N'Play in our room (thinking that would settle at least one of them).

I finally gave up and went in and "rescused" them both, comforted them until they were satisfied and played on the floor of their room with them while waiting for Joey to finish up his work day. And you know was my gift was for giving in? While reading a book to Isaac, he finally started repeating some of the words. First was "cat", and eventually, "dog" which they've both been trying to say for a long time, but just comes out "doh". I tried to get him to say bird and made all the animal sounds to go with it as a bonus incentive, but every time I said "tweet", all he would do is draw up another Micky Mouse smile and giggle at me.

Recent pictures from the Canon

New pictures from my phone

Joey and Isaac hanging out on the couch sharing a PBJ.


The boys en-route to taking everything out of the cabinets and drawers while I'm occupied.


Eden and Polli upstairs in the foyer.


New booster seats courtesy of money from Great Aunt Marion for their birthday. They'll be perfect for our upcoming vacation too!


Isaac (L) and Eden (R) in their monkey outfits attacking me on the couch.





Eden's first ice cream cone 8/15/10.


Isaac's first ice cream cone 8/15/10.

Hall Crawl Video

Mid-August

Once again I find myself realizing it is the middle of the month already. They boys are doing great, growing and developing in leaps and bounds. They've been experimenting with spoons to feed themselves, though more often than not, they end up on the floor. Repeatedly. And their cups. There isn't really much they won't eat. Isaac's still having a having a hard time picking up mushy foods, like bananas or steamed apples and Eden's still slow at chewing things like meat.



For a few days there, I was going on little to no sleep. Isaac would wake up at any given hour, after sleeping for maybe 2 or 3 hours, screaming his head off. So I would bring him to bed to try to settle him there, which would only end up in him fighting to get up and crawl all over both of us and want to play or more crying. I would change him, give him more milk, water, and he'd fall asleep for maybe another hour or so and start screaming again.

This went on for 2 nights and daytime naps and finally the third day, we discovered blisters on both of them - more so on Isaac - in a rash like way. They had started developing a rash earlier on than the wakings but we chalked it up to their new tasting adventures and teething as well as the beginnings of a cold for both of them. We recently purchased the diapers and were laundering them ourselves so I was concerned I didn't get the right detergent or weren't laundering them correctly so I double checked with Jennifer but she confirmed I was doing it all right.

What we discovered though was that the special diaper detergent may be cleansing out only the residue from our regular detergent we use on clothes in previous loads and might not be cleaning out the diapers adequately plus having an he washer might not be adding enough water to the cycle. I added another rinse and in total have to run them through the washer 3 separate times before drying them, but I think that fixed the problem. And yes, for anyone who is wondering, it's still a ton better/cheaper than buying disposables and doing it ourselves.

I took them to the pediatrician who confirmed they had gotten a bacterial infection and gave me a prescription for ointment for the both of them and it's almost completely healed now in addition to the cleaner clean diapers. After I beat myself up a good bit for it, after all, it WAS my fault, although unrealized, I decided it was a lesson well learned and to just move on and try not to damage them any further.

Since then, they have been sleeping through the night (knock on wood!) and their CIO time has decreased tenfold when putting them down to sleep, whether it be for naps or all night. You can still set your clock by Isaac though - 7:30 on the dot and BING, he's up! Eden on the other hand, poor little man would sleep until 9 AM or later probably if it weren't for his brother! Just like daddy :)

Only a few weeks stand between us and our first beach vacation. We are so ready to get our feet in the sand and show our love of the ocean to the boys. It will be nice to finally introduce them to a lot of our family in NC that haven't been able to meet them yet, especially since we had to miss the last reunion. The Saturday before we leave will be the NICU reunion, which we are looking forward to and the Saturday after we get back will be the wedding of some good friends of ours which we are equally as excited for, partly because we'll have a babysitter :)

August update

Isaac sprung out his top 2 lateral incisors and as a result hasn't been sleeping well. For 2 nights he and then Eden would wake up resulting in very sleepy parents. Thankfully, last night they slept all night.

Eden's crawling has improved immensely since introducing the tunnel, watching Isaac go after whatever he wants, and cousin Tillie walking around as if she was born doing it - all great motivators for our little chunk.

Isaac is on the verge of standing alone and taking his first steps. Sometimes he forgets he's not there yet, let's go of the couch, and lands on his face, but I got to give it to him for trying ad being fearless :)

Eden has been enjoying the sound of his own voice so much lately. He likes holding buckets, baskets, etc over his face and yelling into them to see what sounds it makes. This of course sends Isaac into a laughing fit, so it's entertaining all around :)




Eden's giggle-box got flipped, he figures out the pulling up on the couch and Isaac wants to show off his pearly whites :)