9 Months

Wow...life is CRAZY but SO good!! It is getting harder and harder to get on my blog to update.
I can't believe that in 3 months we will be celebrating the twins 1st birthday!!
Here is what the boys are up to:

The twins are both crawling now and I am chasing them all over!! I have never vacuumed so much in my life... I vacuum everyday.. if not twice everyday... they find every single piece of lint.. anything and it immediately goes in their mouth.

It is so much fun watching them move around and explore... their favorite items are the remote controls AND anything that is Brevin's toys!

Ian has 8 teeth and he loves to use them to bit anything and everything.. including me and his brothers.. occasionally he tried to bite Blue's tail but so far I have caught him before clentching down. ALL of his bottles have scrap marks on the bottom because soon as he is done drinking,... he turns his bottle up-side-down and scraps his teeth on the bottom... he does this with his sippy cups and even the remote controls for the TV have teeth scrap marks in them.

Ian loves to make noise and loves to be loud at doing that. He loves to eat and will eat anything that I put on his highchair tray.. he loves pieces of bread and his puffs.. he has tried some pancakes and biscuits and loves it all!

Alex still doesn't like solid food.. he can handle a few puffs but he gags really easily and prefers the soft spoon foods.

Ian is a hugger... when he wakes up in the morning and from his naps.. he wraps his arms around me.. I just love it!! Alex has started to give kisses... a couple times now I have asked him for a kiss and he leans into me with his mouth open.. it is so adorable!!

Alex and Ian have both started pulling themselves up.. we had to lower both cribs.

They have both graduated from their infant bath seat to just sitting in the tub.. they love it!! Alex will sit so nicely and play with his toys the whole time.. Ian, on the other hand, will not sit and is always falling backwards or forwards.. trying to crawl to each end of the tub.. getting his face wet.. he is just a wild child!

Both Ian and Alex love to pull binkies out of eachothers mouth.. it is like a game to them.. so funny to watch!

I am trying so hard to get them to take sippy cups and lately it is working.. I tried putting their milk in it but so far that just makes them mad... I pretty much had Brevin off the bottle by the time he was one but I am not thinking that is going to happen with the twins.. they LOVE their bottles!!

They are wonderful sleepers.. sleeping almost 12 hours at night and 3-4 hour naps during the day!

Ian is in 12-18 month clothing.. Alex is in 9-12 month clothing... both in #3 diapers although Ian could move up to #4

They just had their doctors appointment.. no shots this time.. whew! They are growing up fast and are doing well. Here are their weights and heights:

Ian
22 pounds
31 inches - 75% for weight and 97% for height

Alex
20 pounds
30 1/2 inches - 50% for weight and 95% for height

The twins LOVE being outside.. riding around in their wagon.. in the jogging stroller AND in the burley that I pull behind my bike. They love watching their big brother run through the sprinkler and riding his bike and scooter.. he is great entertainment for them!!

They are doing something new and different everyday.. I know I am forgetting some stuff to add to this post... I will probably add as I think of more.

Two years ago...

Two years ago today... a piece of my heart left me. Troy was born still into our hands. I can still feel the emotions and feelings from that day. I still feel the sadness that we felt that day. I still miss my little man. You would think that having the twins would totally make all the sadness go away but it doesn't. I still wish with all my heart that Troy made it in this world.. that he was alive and playing like a 2 year old should play. It still just breaks my heart. Please don't get me wrong... I know how blessed we are to have a healthy 5 year old boy and 2 healthy twin 8 month old boys. I am so happy to have the family that I have.. God has blessed us SO much! We still have an empty spot in our lives though because Troy isn't here. The fact that we held him and touched him made him such a big part of our lives and he still is and always will be... I still think about him EVERY single day.... there will always be a special place in our hearts for him. We miss you Troy and love you so much. Thinking of you today and always!!

8 Months

Here we are at 8 months already.. it always seems like I just posted the last months update and we are already on to the next month!!

Ian and Alex are learning new things everyday... I could just sit back and watch them all day long discovering new things.. it is amazing!!

Here is where we are at... Both Ian and Alex are now saying "da-da" and just today Alex started saying "ma-ma".. I love it!

Alex still likes to clap his hands.

Ian is still so close to crawling but hasn't figured it out yet... he scoots backwards but that is it... he loves to get on all fours and rocks back and fourth.

Ian LOVES to be as loud as he can... LOVES to scream.. he sometimes screams so loud that he makes Alex cry! Ian still wants to be held a lot and not very content on his own.

Ian is a biter!! He has already grabbed Alex's leg and put teeth marks in him.. that was not fun. Ian will grab my face and try to bite me.. he is fast and strong and has already bitten my nose, chin and my ear! His teeth are sharp! We have to watch him close because he is so quick to pick something up and put it in his mouth!!

Alex finally has some teeth.. he has 2 now.. on the top.

Alex is a lot more calm than Ian. Alex can easily play by himself on the floor or in his exersaucer for a long time. He loves to watch eebee and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... I do admit.. I put these shows on to get a little bit of house works done.

Both Ian and Alex smile a lot and love to giggle!

Alex still doesn't care for his fruit puffs.. we keep trying.. he may eat one or two but then that is it... where Ian will pick up a fist full and shove it all in his mouth!!

They each eat cereal in the morning with one fruit each.. then at lunch they each get 2 veggies and then at night before bed.. they get more cereal with another fruit. They still get about 5 bottles a day.. I am trying to get rid of the noon bottle but they are having a hard time with that.. they love their bottles!! They drink about 4-5 ounces at each bottle feeding.

They are on a pretty good schedule. They each take a 1 1/2 hour nap at 9am and then another nap at 1pm and they will sleep till 2:30-3pm. They are in bed for the night at 7:30 - 7:45pm and then on the good nights.. they will both sleep till 6:30am. They are doing great on this schedule!!

We just came back from Memorial Day weekend up in Ludington at my parents cottage.. we had a fabulous time.. the weather was wonderful... we were able to go to the dunes off of lake Hamlin and play in the sand and water... we also went to Ludington State park beach. Ian and Alex both experienced the sand for the first time.. it was fun to watch. I filled up buckets with sand and they just kept putting their hands in it and feeling the sand. I put their binkies in their mouths so they wouldn't try eating the sand.

At the state park the boys experiences the lake for the first time.. we put them in the water. Ian sat down and loved it.. he kept grabbing at the sand in the water and tried putting it all in his mouth!! Alex took a little while to warm up to the water but after a bit he loved it and had so much fun!

Brevin also had a great time.. the water was nice enough to go tubing so he did that with daddy while Grandpa drove the boat. Brevin also played on the blow-up jet ski... played in the water and also built a few sand castles and played with his new buddy Dylan. It was hard to come home.. we just love going to Ludington and can't wait to go back!!

Here are some recent pictures of the boys on their 8 month birthday and pictures up at the cottage.

Ian

Alex

LUDINGTON