Christmas 2009 - Oh, What A Time!

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, and fun. For us here, I think this Christmas holiday will go down in the record books as one of the "bestest" ever. :-)

Thursday, Christmas Eve, was spent as a relaxing day together as a family. Isaac had to work half the day, so the boys and I hung out and made merry by ourselves. We played outside and made a mess with play-doh. Good times. When daddy came home, we packed up the boys to go look at Christmas lights.

What's that, mommy?

Let's go over there, daddy!

Quit smiling! Let's get back to the lights!

That was fun!

They were fascinated with all the people around and loved, loved, loved the lights. I don't think either boys stopped talking the entire time we were out. The funniest part was how they told the lights "Goodbye, lights!" all the way to the car (and home, actually).

The boys are in a fun stage of knowing what to do with a present, but they don't have the expectation that there should actually be presents to open. That made Christmas even more fun for me because they weren't expecting anything to be out of the ordinary. Their expressions of pure and utter delight as they entered our living room to see that a toy store had somehow exploded everywhere was priceless. It definitely made it a day to remember.

What's this? (He swears they are spiders. I can't seem to break him of that, no matter how often I tell him they are caterpillars.)

Unwrapping our presents... (Ignore the big blond person in the background with the not-so-matching outfit-whoops!)

An airplane!

A remote! (And no, he wasn't fooled. The real kind is by far better.)

Sitting at our new table...

Reading a new book...

Looking at my picture album. (I made a book for each of them that is filled with important moments from their lives and family members. He's telling me there is a pumpkin right here.)

Once we finished opening gifts at our house, we headed to grandma's house where we did more of the same. I'll spare you the pictures except for this one...

Sh.awnie on his big boy bike. He rides that thing like a champ!

Doesn't he look great on that thing?

We ate like pigs, played Wii with the family, and just hung out together. Ah, it was just a perfect day. :-)

I do have to say, though, that I have reached a point now where I am completely exhausted. I am ready to get back to our regular normal routine.

Kidbits -- Things We Hear Around the House Part 2

• Shawn is in this stage where he makes everything, and I do mean everything, into an imaginary phone so he can say, "Hello." One of his particular make believe favorites is his toothbrush. He'll always try to answer it several times before he gets down to the business at hand and brushes his teeth. We've started to tell him that it is not a phone, it's a toothbrush. His response was to wait for a bit before he whispered a quick hello. It is too funny because it is almost like he's talking to someone he's not supposed to be talking to. It is so quick and low that you'd miss it if you weren't watching him.


• Both of the boys continue to be fascinated with my headbands, which they call a "pretty." Shawn just likes to take them off my head and play with them. For Jason, simply playing with the "pretty" is not enough. He wants to wear my pretties. I actually had to give him one of my headbands to keep so he'd leave me alone! The funny thing is that he wears it several times a day. If he isn't wearing the pretty, he's wearing a hat. I guess all that helmet wearing made it so now he has to have something on his head!

I'll leave you with this. I've dubbed it "I'll Have What He's Having" alternately known as "Goldfish!" Enjoy. :-)

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Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Our New Specs...

The boys got Mr. Potato Heads for their birthday, and I have to say they are a big hit.

Well, actually, the accessories are a big hit.

Jason absolutely loves his potato head glasses. He carried those suckers around for days and even took a pair to bed with him!

Shawn wasn't as enamored with the new glasses, though.

:-)

*I do have to say that Shawn doesn't cry as much as these pictures reflect. I think he is getting a bad rap out there in the blog world. In reality, he is usually...how should I put this...much calmer than his brother! More often than not, we see our little Shawn Bon like this...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Imagine my surprise when today my darling duo slept in until...wait for it...10:15 am! Plus, it was only because my husband so rudely woke us up that we got up at that time. I have to tell you that it was pure heaven. Sleep, I have missed you so. Anyway, I figured that this was a good omen--it must mean that today is the day to go see Santa!

One bruised eye (mine) and a bloody lip later (Jason's), and I still wasn't deterred. I just figured that they needed a short little nap as a pick me up. You know, because sleep makes everything better. (It sure worked for me today.)

Only Jason wouldn't nap. And because Jason wouldn't nap, Shawn couldn't nap. Sigh.

But, I still wasn't deterred.

And I am so glad I wasn't.

The mall gods parted the sea of cars and let us find a parking space without having to drive around for hours. Seriously, we just pull into a prime slot as we drove into the parking lot. When does that ever happen?

Then, as we entered the dreaded mall, people sort of drifted out of our path and we were able to make a beeline to Santa's village. Not only that, but they must have known we were coming because I swear there wasn't a single person in line in front of us. It was sweet!

As we walked up, we stood there and admired the big man in red. The boys called to him and said hi. Santa waved at them and told them to come on over. The boys were excited about sitting on Santa's lap. We practiced smiling and saying cheese. We were primed and ready...

...until we got there.

Then their little faces looked like this...

Jeez, the excitement and joy was written all over their faces.

Don't worry about Shawn. He stopped crying immediately, once we took him off of Santa's lap. Then he resumed his continuous serenade of "Hi!" to Santa as we walked away. Sigh.

I think they had a good time, though, even with the tears, because they talked about Santa all the way home.

:-)

It is amazing to me to see them on Santa's lap this year. They are growing so fast! Here's a little flashback to last year's Santa visit so you can see what I mean...

Kidbits -- Things We Hear Around the House

• Jason was at the door knocking on it. I called his name to get him to come back to the living room. He turned his head a tiny bit and said, "Dude. What?" and then went back to knocking on the door. I was totally ignored by a two year old.
• Shawn loves saying Jason's name and calls just about anything Jason now. I just love how he says it, too--he says, "Thay-thon" for Jason. Aww....
• Two weeks ago, Jason's new glasses met an early demise and had to have the frames replaced. (I'm not saying who stepped on them, but the culprit has a name that rhymes with "frandma." I also won't say anything about the four letter word that Jason learned from said culprit. Ahem) Anyway, luckily, they are guaranteed under Tar.get's "kid's plan" so I have 100% replacement coverage for the first three months. I took them in to Tar.get to get the new frames. While she was putting the lenses into the new frames, she said, "I see that they have bite marks on them. Do you have a dog?" Um, no, I had to admit. I just have children who like to chew things!
• Shawn is literally fascinated with turning on and off light switches. He would make us hold him for hours while he played with the light switch if we'd let him. And boy does he get mad when we say he can't play with them anymore. He has quite the temper!
• The boys have discovered that they can love on each other. Shawn loves to give Jason kisses and hugs. Jason? Well, not so much. He'll do it, but he doesn't always like it. It's a good thing that Shawn could care less if Jason was enjoying himself! :-)
• Any time someone sneezes or blows his (mostly) nose, the boys always say, "Bless you." They repeat it over and over again until you finally tell them "thank you." It doesn't matter where you are in the house either. If they can hear you, you WILL be blessed. It's too funny.

Okay, that is all for now. I'll be back with more kidbits soon...

Bonding

When I was first told that I'd be having twins, I have to admit I fantasized about the relationship the two of them would have. I envisioned two little toddlers who'd want to spend every waking moment together. They'd play together and get along famously. Boy, was I sorely mistaken. For whatever reason, Shawn and Jason have acted less like the way I expected twins to behave and more like competitive, out-for-blood brothers.

While they were babies, I told myself that their lack of closeness was because they had spent so much of their early months apart. I overlooked the fact that each saw the other as nothing more than an obstacle to climb over or from which to take a coveted toy. The screaming fits and crying jags that erupted in this house over the simplest of things were enough to make your ears bleed on a regular basis. What one had, the other wanted. If one was in my lap, the other literally tried to rip the first out it in order to take his place. It was never ending.

I tried to tell myself, the bond was there. I just needed to be patient. But, I have to admit that it was getting harder and harder to hold on to the hope.

Occasionally I saw glimmers of the possibilities. There were the times that Shawn was so sick in the hospital. Jason was never quite himself until the moment Shawn started to feel the tiniest bit better. As Shawn improved, Jason seemed to snap out of his own funk at exactly the same time. And, there was also their annoying habit of tag teaming their over tired parents at bed/nap time. One would fuss for what seemed like forever. When he would finally quiet and go to sleep, his brother would take the reins and start fussing in his place. Back and forth they'd go until they had driven us both crazy with frustration. Something was happening between the two of them. So what if their desire to drive us mad was the glue that stuck them together, right? At least it was something.

Shawn and Jason have just turned two, and the bond I've dreamt about is finally emerging. One is no longer always the rival of the other. Dare I say it? Playing together has actually been seen around this place as of late.

Now, instead of stealing a toy from his brother, Jason will offer Shawn a replacement so they can trade. Shawn is honing his comedic abilities and tries as hard as he can to get a good laugh from Jason. Little examples of how much they love each other are witnessed all the time now.

It makes my heart sing to see the two of them together enjoying each other's company.

This weekend, the boys were in their cribs in their bedroom. Shawn was frustrated and wanted to get out of bed. It was still a little early, so I ignored him and tried to get a little more sleep instead. (A girl’s got to dream!) Over the monitor I could hear the two of them talking. Jason tried to comfort Shawn and told him several times "no cry." Shawn calmed down some. Soon after, I heard the first "Boo!" For the next seven minutes they played peek-a-boo. They laughed and giggled as they took turns scaring the other. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen and heard.

All was right in the world.

It took that moment before it hit me. Shawn and Jason are close. There is a strong bond between them. I need to stop worrying about their relationship resembling something from my head and let them figure out how it will look by themselves.

You know what?

It looks now like they are doing a fine job all on their own. :-)

National Prematurity Awareness Day

Tomorrow (November 17) is National Prematurity Awareness Day.

There's never a day that goes by when we don't remember how incredibly blessed we are that our MIRACLES, born too early and so tiny, are alive and thriving! They amaze us every single day with their strength and determination. We are so very proud of our little men.

Please take a moment to support the March of Dimes and contribute to the fight against prematurity. Do it to celebrate our boys...do it for all babies.

Together let's work to eliminate prematurity!

Click here to help!

Shawn on the day he was born, 10/27/07.

2 pounds 14.5 ounces

Shawn on his 2nd birthday, 10/27/09.

A whole lot heavier! (my guess is close to 29 pounds)

Jason on the day he was born, 10/27/07.

2 pounds 14.5 ounces

Jason on his 2nd birthday, 10/27/09.

A whole lot heavier! (my guess is close to 30 pounds)

The March of Dimes helped make these moments possible. We are FOREVER thankful!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Things here will be pretty low key. The only thing we have planned is to put on costumes and head to grandma's house to show off--um, I mean go trick or treating.

I have had quite a few questions about what the boys will be for Halloween tonight, but I'm not going to give their costumes away until we have the big reveal on a post tomorrow. Until then, I'll leave you with a few clues:

• Each boys' costume is perfect for him. I did a lot of searching until I found just the right thing.
• The costumes kind of "go" together in a warped sort of way. I did not intend for the costumes to be any type of theme, though. It only occurred to me after the fact that they could be considered as such. (let me reiterate the word warped here-you've been warned)
• Jason's costume is white and red and has a design on it.
• Shawn's costume is white and green. His also has a design on it, although it is much smaller than the design on Jason's costume.
• They will NOT be wearing masks.

Any guesses? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

P.S. If you happen to know for sure what they are wearing, don't spoil the fun.

Look Who's 2!

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The Pumpkin Patch

This week's Perfect Moment was our trip to the pumpkin patch. We had a great time!

We started off checking out the sunflowers...

Shawn was quite impressed with their beauty.

We moved on to the pumpkins...

Here is Jason inspecting one of many possibilities.

He finally decided on this one. He's trying to roll it to the car in this picture (but he didn't even know when we left without it)!

Jason had a great time looking at pumpkins until a tiny little girl came over and had the NERVE to touch a pumpkin Jay was looking at. Keep in mind that this little thing was maybe a year old. She was little. Jason looked at her, looked at his pumpkin, and then turned to me and wanted up! I rescued him, but I made sure to tell him that he better get used to this type of thing. I am sure the ladies are going to flock to him as he grows!

Shawn was okay at the patch as long as he was in someone's arms. He did NOT like the hay that was all over the ground.

Here we are looking at a pumpkin. This was the first one he looked at.

From that point on, he had eyes for no other. He had found the most sincere pumpkin in the whole patch!

That made him VERY happy! :-)

Finally, we walked through the corn maze. We hid around the stalks and played peek-a-boo.

Shawn gave up trying to scare his brother and focused more on me. :-)

Isaac and Jason popped around the corner with big grins on their faces.

We all had a great time as you can see by Jay's huge smile.

The perfect topper to the day was when we saw this on the way home...

For those of you who know what the weather was like here this past weekend (HOT without a rain cloud in sight), you know that seeing this rainbow was such a great surprise. :-)

Mostly Wordless Wednesday - Pictures from the Weekend

Daddy and Jason walking at the park.

Daddy and Shawn


Daddy and Jason

Shawn hanging out (don't ask me what is up with the hair. ahem)

Mommy and Shawn

Mommy and Jason


Look Mommy! Leaves!

Hi!

Daddy. Get that camera out of my face all ready!

Isn't his face funny? He is giving such the 'tude in this one. Click on it to make it bigger (but ignore me if you do) to get the full effect. :-)