On the Road Again

One night last week, we packed the boys up in the car around 7pm and drove. We drove and drove and drove until 11:30 am the next day. That landed us in Colorado! On this roadtrip:

• Pogo started whining when we stopped for gas at 1am, which woke up the boys crying heavily. While Liam went back to sleep, Dash stayed awake for another two hours. Not crying, or even making a sound really, just playing with some toys and looking out the window.
• About 5 minutes after Dash fell asleep, a cop pulled us over. The boys promptly woke up and cried. Seeing our situation, the police officer quickly mumbled something about not citing us for our burnt out licence plate light and sent us on our way, retreating back to his quiet squad car. Dash stayed awake another hour.
• Despite those interruptions, driving through the night proved very helpful for the boys, who only had to hang out in the car awake before and a little bit after their first nap.
• We didn't fall asleep at the wheel!

Now that we've been here nearly a week, you better believe my two sons have been getting a lot of lovin'. And they've been giving a lot a lovin' back.

Pool Party

Good news: Dash and Liam love the pool!

They especially love to eat debris.

And they especially love to splash.

Sean especially loves to look mm-mm-fine for his wifey.

Nice faces guys.

Yikes, someone needs a tan. Liam has more color than I do!

So when I handed the camera to Sean asking him to take of photo of Liam and I, he thought I was asking him to ask the sprinkler-repair dude to take our picture. It's weird having a stranger take your picture while in a bathing suit. At least we got a family photo out of it!

Dad's Hat

All photos by Daddio

"Dad's hat is SO AWESOME."

"Isn't it, dad? It's so awesome"

"I want a piece of that awesome action!"

"And now I'll get my ghetto vibe on."

The Bike Trailer

The boys are getting ready for a family bike ride in their spiffy new bike trailer.

As you can see, they're super excited. Not.

I guess it's not very fun until the wind starts whipping through your hair. But you don't get a picture of that because I haven't quite figured out how to take pictures while bicycling without severely injuring myself. Maybe one day.

Fort Box

We had a couple big boxes so Sean did the fatherly thing and made a fort out of it.

It's awesome and can be moved around into endless combinations. Okay, just four combinations but that still makes it awesome.

And, goodness gracious, those boys of mine sure love it in there. It's been set up for weeks and they haven't grown tired of it.

Sean even installed recessed lighting.

Talk about luxury!

You can even exchange the light for other accessories, like the ever-coveted roll of wrapping paper! We spare no expense.

A List of Six

1) One of my favorite simple memories is when the boys were sick. Back at Easter, Sean had a miraculous three day weekend, so I was determined to get the yard fixed up then. Even when Liam got sick on Thursday, I wouldn't let it stop me. Friday we set off to Home Depot for some supplies. Liam was a bit better but Dash was just starting to get the brunt of the illness. After hanging around the hot, outdoor Gardening section a while, I could tell Dash was just feeling miserable. So the boys and I headed back indoors while Sean finished up. I found a little patio set to sit in and pulled Dash out. Liam, still under the weather himself, contentedly sat in the stroller playing with my hand while Dash snuggled with me. My boys don't snuggle more than 5 seconds. So this little, quiet 10 minute stretch of peaceful time with my babies in the middle of a home improvement store was just soooo nice.

Isn't it awful I felt happy while they were so miserable?

2) Liam and Dash seem to be getting over their stranger anxiety. It only happens every so often. And they now even wave to people- it's so precious! And sometimes when we watch The Price Is Right (shush, I like that show, it makes me happy to see other people so happy) and the models wave to the camera, the boys wave right back.

3) When the babes were super little, Sean would regularly jerk awake from his sleep to dig through our bedding, convinced a baby was trapped within. But the babies were safe in their cribs. Once the boys started crawling, his nightly habit transformed to jolting upright to catch a baby before he fell over the edge of the bed. But the "baby" was either my knee or his own foot. Sometimes when a baby cries in the night, he'll inexplicably jump out of bed and rush over to either of the dressers and then just stand there. Oh my, the things our unconscious comes up with.

4) Have I mentioned that they say "dog"? Usually it's gog-gog-gog-gog but sometimes the word comes out clear. They also say "dad" and "hi" and maaaybe "ball." Still no "mom" yet- come on!

5) For the last week Dash and Liam have been so cranky. Lots of unexplained crying and big to-dos about little incidences. Plus everything is on high volume- frustration over a hard-to-reach book receives the same screaming cry as a whack on the head. There's much flopping and writhing on the ground when they're less than 100% happy. It's wearing me thin. It started when they got sick last week but the screaming hasn't disappeared with the runny noses. Maybe they're working on molars?

6) When I put them out in the grass, they're both a little weirded out. But Liam generally starts exploring after a few minutes. Dash, however, stays put and tries to make as little of his skin touch the grass. There's plenty to explore right where he is, anyway, right?

The Playset

So we went to all the effort of making a little playground for Dash and Liam, how did they like it?

The wood chips were their favorite, hands down. Or, hands up, in Liam's case.

They would have eaten those up for dinner if I'd have let them.

Good thing dad's around to show them other things to do besides eat wood.

Or to reinforce the habit. You know, whatever he's in the mood for.

So many... interesting... flavors!

Sometimes Sean says Liam or Dash reminds him of Gollum and I usually quickly shoot down such a retched comparison. But with this picture, I cannot deny a bit of similarity.

While the sand was still a little too wet to play in, the slide presented a perfect toy along which to cruise.

And climb under.

And slide on!

Uh oh, wardrobe malfunction!

Whoo, after seeing the fun Liam had, Dash can't wait for his turn.

Nice reaction- he's thinking, "huh, well, I guess this is neat."

Whelp, at least Sean had fun!

Surgery [check]

Today, Sean takes his surgery shelf exam. He's finished up this rotation in Urology and Pediatric Ophthalmology. Now on his list to consider for his own specialty: Urology, Ophthalmology, and Pediatrics. :) Sean just likes everything.

But after this test, Sean's done with the school year. He'll have as many years of education as I. Finally, we are equals. ;) Oh no, that means next year... he's the smart one. Shoot.

Also, the end of the school year means Sean has a break. How long? Six weeks. Six. Weeks.

He's mine, he's all mine!

Well, I guess the boys want time with him, too. So... he's ours, he's all ours!

First Step / Panel of Experts: Weaning

He did it! Dash just took his first step! While getting ready for bed, he was holding onto daddy's leg then took a step over to me while I was reading them scriptures. He then shrieked and cried. We think he thought the celebratory whoops were negative. Who knows, they were both easily set off today. Hurray for my little Dashiell Spouts! Be on the look out for the Leema Bean!

Now, a simple question about weaning:

Wean gradually?

Or completely switch over at once? (which the doctor told us to do)

Really good

My boys are really good at being cute.

My boys are really good at being silly.

My boys are super good at making me laugh.

Rough

The boys got sick yesterday. Lots of sneezing and nose running and low-grade fevers.

The boys had wonky naps yesterday. The morning nap was a patchwork of sleeping and crying and babbling. Their afternoon nap was 10 minutes long.

The boys had their doctor's checkup yesterday. That's why the second nap was so short- they didn't fall asleep for forever (because the morning nap was so weird and lasted longer) and then I had to get them up to go. They had four shots each. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.

It was... a bit of a rough day for them.

Liam's stats:

30" (57%)

19 lb 3 oz (5%)

Dash's stats:

31" (84%)

18 lb 12 oz (3%)

Party Party

What's a birthday without a party? Boring. A boring birthday just won't do for our special little one-year-olds. So a party was had!

I feel a pinch of pride for these invitations, mostly because I think that the flame looks so awesome. Cue head inflation.

It's incredible how busy I felt the week leading up to the party as I bought groceries with the boys in tow, cleaned the house (minus the big pile of stuff that now resides in our bedroom), prepped the yard, finally bought and hung curtains, made food, made decorations... whew, I feel tired thinking about it again.

As tiring as it was, it was really fun to get a party ready for my special boys and to have our friends over to celebrate. Too bad I didn't notice that our table of food was totally off-center from the wall display. Whoops. Can you see the cupcakes? My first attempt at piping! Oh, also, most of the action photographed occurred in the dreaded Yellow Zone of our house, where all photographs taken within have a horrid yellow cast. Please forgive any ugly photos.

I tried my hand at making some pennant banners- I liked how they turned out but it took a lot longer to do than expected. I'm sure that had nothing to do with my extreme sewing naivete. I won't even mention how many times I had to ask Sean how to do things on the sewing machine. He's my husband. A male. Who knows how to sew better than I do. I'm not insecure about my femininity because of it. Not at all. Waaah.

I also made some pompoms! I've had the supplies for 10 months to make some for the boys room. At least I finally found the motivation!

I think everyone had a nice low-key time at the party. We had a lovely smattering of guests from our old church ward, our current church ward, Sean's classmates, and my brother's family. Liam and Dash quite enjoyed following the older kids around. They were probably amazed at how fast they could move on their feet! I hardly took any pictures of guests between watching kids, eating, feeding kids, and chatting. We're so grateful to all those that came!

Now on to the main event! The Cupcake Attack!

The most sugar-filled serving of food he's ever been offered was just placed before him and Liam thinks it's a good time for a little sip of water.

Conversely, after a moments hestitation, Dash jumps right in.

Liam tries a little lick of frosting. Don't want to get all messy, do you, Liam?

Dash DOES want to get messy! And for good reason, that's yummy cake!

Liam spies the voracity with which Dash is consuming his birthday treat.

Dash isn't slowing down. Shovel it all in!

Taking his brother's cue, Liam finally gets down to business.

Scratch that, Dash is getting down to business. He is getting the job d.o.n.e. (also, see the nice injury on Dash's forehead? It bares a striking resemblance to the little birthmark on Liam's head, which many people use to tell the difference between the boys. So everyone was all thrown off.)

Liam decides for a different approach: the chest smear. (I promise he's not nekked. There's diaper on in there)

They have cake and they're not afraid to eat it.

In case you wanted to see them in action. (Video: Birthday Cake)

The final faces:

Dash with his cake war paint.

Liam and his cake five-o'clock shadow.

I think they liked it. And we certainly enjoyed their first sugar crash later on that evening. I didn't photograph it but it looked something like this:

It's their party and they can can cry if they want to. But I don't think we'll be giving them a whole cupcake any time soon. That first time sure was tasty, wasn't it, boy-o's? Happy birthday party!