Then and Now

Since I'm already in video mode...

Can you believe the boys have gone from this:


to this?:

Oh my

Proof

Case in point:

This is Sean's idea of getting the babies ready for bed.

Guess who took two hours to fall asleep.

Worth it.

Cachinnations

Cachinnation: The act of laughing loudly

Is there anything better than a hearty giggle erupting from a little infant's mouth. Yeah, I don't think so either. Liam and Dash had previously produced lots of little throaty laughs during their first 3.5 months of life, kind of like tight intakes of breath or a squeezed hiccup, but nothing with real gusto.

Wonderfully, they both recently burst out in full-fledged guffaw. Much to their parents' delight.

Dash's giggle occurred as I was dumping out some condensed tomato soup into a pot. I think it was the slurpy sound the thick soup made as it escaped the vacuum of the can because he kept laughing when I plunged the can back into the soup over and over again to recreate the suction sound. You know, that is a pretty funny noise, now that I think of it.

Liam made his laugh at the grocery store. We're think it was caused by the conveyor belt moving our groceries along. All that stuff moving on it's own... magic! The cashier couldn't help but smile.

Unfortunately, both times the baby laughed as I was carrying him in my Baby Bjorn so I haven't seen their faces whilst giggling. I made Sean describe it to me in detail. He said they had on the biggest smile that would fit on their face.

Oh my goodness, imagine how adorable it'll be when they both giggle at the same time. I don't think I'll survive the cuteness.

P.S. Cute pictures, no? You can admit it, I have the best-looking babies, I know it's true.

Matchy Matchy

Liam and Daddy had an inadvertent matching day- color and theme. Precious.

Foiled

Sometimes there's another reason that I don't have many pictures with the boys.

I'm finally presentable and Sean's ready to photograph...

then this happens:


and this:

And to this I say, "C'est la vie"

100

My boys are 100 days old!

100 day celebration!

...I guess the idea upset Liam a little bit. Watch out below!

Dash On Display

Hey I'm Dash. What's so funny?

Ack, my nose tickles!

Heh, I'm just kiiiiding.

Hey look here's my tongue.

Liam On Display

Hey, I'm Liam. What's this I see?

Oh, ha ha, it's Daddy!

Silly Daddy!

Uh oh, am I in trouble, Daddy?

With Mom

I don't have very many pictures of myself with my boys.

This is because:

A) I got a terrible haircut right after they were born- didn't want THAT captured for all to see.

B) Illogically, now that I have the biggest circles under my eyes, I wear makeup the least. I don't want THAT captured for all to see, either.

C) It's hard to take pictures while holding a baby. Whenever Sean's home, he usually has a baby in his arms. Hence, not so many pictures.

So we're making a concerted effort to get more shots with me in them. I don't want to look back and regret my poor representation in photos with my kids.

Because how else are they going to know that I love them? I gotta have pictorial proof!

Minnesota Side Trip

So you know how we went on a 20 hour car ride to get from Texas to Illinois? And it was so looong.

Why not tack on another 6 hour trip? Somehow Sean convinced me to go on another drive to Minnesota. He served his mission in Minneapolis/St. Paul and has been itching to return for years. The opportunity was too perfect to not take advantage. Into the car we went to spend two days in the land of 10,000 lakes.

I got to meet some of the people with whom Sean worked. This is Ka Ying, the mother of a whole family that joined the church. Two funny things:

1) She would not smile when the camera was out. I got lucky in capturing this one of her smirk.

2) She would always grab a prop to present when I was taking pictures. Like these two bobble-headed puppies. (One of those puppies is for you, Pursers)

Here's one of her daughters. The whole family was so kind and welcoming. I usually didn't know what was going on since they were speaking in Hmong but it was still so fun and it was wonderful to meet the people that mean so much to Sean.

I could understand when Ka Ying kept telling me, "I luh yoo." Aw.

We drove through the twin cities for a while. Sean was so funny, half the time exclaiming his shock that he was back in Minnesota and the other half telling stories about the places we passed. And occasionally he'd mutter something in Hmong, seeing if he remembered all his vocabulary.

Being in Minnesota, we had to make a trip to the Mall of America. We mostly just walked around the different levels and window shopped. My favorite store was called The Afternoon (I think)- it sold fun, unique books, jewelry, decor, etc. It had a nice eclectic style. Our only purchases were a couple of Minnesota Twins onesies- I know I know, they're division rivals with the Sox but how could I not buy Twins gear for my twins?

We also made a quick trip to the Walker Art Center. Since we were on a tight schedule, we only walked around the sculpture gardens outside. We found some delights.

It had just rained and water stuck in this meshy wall. So many Seans!

This semi-reflective glass panel let us see what Sean and I would look like as one person. Trippy.

This is what the boys have been doing like crazy and what one artist decided to chisel into marble. I identified.

Cherry pickin'.

Boy, I tells ya, Sean l-o-v-e-d this trip. Good thing I let him convince me to go!

Gurnee Trip 2010

Sean had the month of July off of school.

GLORY BE AND HALLELUJAH!

I can't tell you how fabulous it was to have him around all the time. I loved it and the boys loved it.

Since we had so much free time, we took a road trip up to Illinois. It was... long. Liam and Dash did pretty great being in their car seats so long. I was the grumpy one sitting between the car seats, alternately pumping and giving bottles, then taking a turn driving every so often. Sean did a fabulous job driving for so much of the distance.

Oh, we took Pogo, too. Talk about a full car! I think she enjoyed returning to her old stomping grounds.

Liam and Dash met lots more aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Their cousin O was enamored with the youngin's. She was always vying for a turn to hold one of them. Now's one of those times where I can't believe my little niece is growing up so quick!

Cousin E was just as excited to have his turn to hold a baby.

Cousin M, too.

By the way, M's rocking these aviators.

I loved seeing my sister with my little boys. It's weird, you know- I'm the baby of the family and now my sister's holding MY babies. Weird. Awesome.

Aunt Chris has always been excited for me to have kids- she couldn't get enough of my boys.

Then my cousin Diana got stuck holding them both while the rest of us ate dinner. I'm sure she didn't mind a bit. Heh.

Dash made himself right at home on Great Uncle Bob.

I just love this picture with my mom. Liam and Dash make everyone so happy!

We did lots of fun things on the trip like watch baseball games on tv (I'm hardpressed to find a White Sox game down here in Houston), play board games, went to a couple movies (thanks for babysitting everyone!), and mom even watched the boys for a night (though guess who couldn't help but wake up repeatedly anyway...).

Here's Sean walking the boys over to the park. Only manly men push strollers.

M really puts his body into his basketball shooting. That's how he lives his life, giving everything his all.

Dash enjoyed falling asleep and quickly waking up so he wouldn't miss anything exciting.

Liam too, can't miss a thing!

Sean celebrated his birthday while we were there. To celebrate, he hung out with his boys.

(oh swoon, look at Dash peaking up at his daddy)

I think that's a pretty good birthday gift, don't you?

Sweet Eyes

My boys have the sweetest eyes and they just keep getting sweeter.

I loved Dash's eyes in this photo but Sean loved his expression in the next one, so I had to put on both.

The boys started out with dark slate eyes but they're starting to become a bit bluer.

How will they end up- their dad's blue/grey/green ("eyes like the sea after a storm") or their mom's bold green?

Panel of Experts: Pacifiers

Note: Thanks to all who responded to my Eating and Screaming question. I called the doc who agreed it's probably reflux and to try burping more and keeping the boys sitting up for 20 minutes after they're done eating. So far, not really helping. I think we'll have to try some medicine next.

The first time we used a pacifier, I felt so guilty. It was as if I was just plugging them up instead of figuring out their need and meeting it.

But I've realized that sometimes their need is wanting to suck. So the pacifier really does meet their need. I can see how much it relaxes them. Yet I still often feel like a bad mom for using it.

My question to you, my panel of experts, is: what are your opinions on pacifiers? How often do you think they should be used? And when should we wean them off their "binks"?

Parenthood... there's so much to think about!

Stymied

I can't decide if I want Liam and Dash to be on the same schedule. They're actually doing fairly well at night- they always go at least six hours between eating after they first go to bed and I can usually count on at least a three hour chunk of sleep before one of them fusses.

What's hard is during the day, when I'm on my own.

If they nap and wake together

Pro: I can get sleep and do chores during their naps

Con: It's really hard to entertain two babies at once- playing with one often means ignoring the other (not really "ignoring," but that's what it feels like when I'm not super hands-on). So I become stymied. Usually it devolves into soothing alternately fussy babies until they fall asleep.

If one sleeps while they other's awake

Pro: I can guiltlessly play with one baby while the other snoozes away.

Con: It makes it really hard to get anything done since there's never a break!

I'm not sure which I prefer. It's not simple having two little babes. But it's a challenge I'm so happy to face- I love both boys so so much.

Wiggles