Bumbs, bruises, bites and bandages!

Whoa! What a day! Ashton, who is mentally ready to walk, is not physically ready. You can't tell him this though! He fell more times than I can count this weekend...and he has the bumbs and bruises to show for it! He woke up from his morning nap with a yellowish bruise on his forehead. Then, after dinner he fell and hit the exact same spot and it immediately turned into a blueish bump! I tried to put ice on it and he thought this was really funny. Every time I put the ice to his forehead he would laugh and try to push it away. We repeated this over and over again. Ayden loves to chew on things (hopefully just a part of his teething phase), and doesn't discriminate between teething rings and human skin. He doesn't bite to be mean, he will just bite when playing. Well, you guessed it...Ayden bit poor Ashton on the cheek! By bedtime Ashton looked like he had participated in a cage fight today! Now, you are probably wondering where the "bandages" fits in. That would be our furbaby, Jada! That's right, even our dog got hurt today! We don't let her out of the fence without a leash, but today when I answered the door she made a run for it. She ran like a rabid deer (this makes since if you have ever since our little pomchi run and jump) around the neighborhood for a few minutes before Jeff found her. She had caught her thumb nail on something while out and it was cracked in the quick, twisted to the side and bleeding pretty bad. Luckily the boys where happily sitting in their highchairs snacking on toast and laughing at each other while all this was going on. Jeff and I washed off her paw and wrapped it in gauze for awhile. She was not walking on it well so we tried to get her to rest. After a while we took off the gauze and let her clean it up. It looks a lot better and is no longer twisted. Now, after a stressful day for mommy, I am relaxing with a hot cup of Ghirardelli White Mocha, the internet and the Oscar's!

The boys get their first workout at the gym!

The Little Gym that is! We got up and around early this morning for a 9:00am "Birds" class. The boys had a great time climbing and crawling on the mats, chasing balls and catching bubbles! They were a little hesitant at first but soon they were enjoying their workout! It was also cold when we first got there and the boys did not like putting their bare feet on the cold mats! This was a free trial visit the gym provides to everyone on their first visit. The "Birds" class is for 10-19 month olds. The boys turn 10 months tomorrow, and they were by far the youngest participants. They were also the only ones who were unable to walk. I am not sure that we will be joining the gym just yet. It is very expensive for two kids and we think they would get more out of it in a few months. But, it was a great experience and made for a fun family weekend activity!

Catching bubbles!

Ball time!

Ayden

Ashton

Lots of twins!

This week our local twin club started meeting for playdates. The group is divided by age groups for one play date and the entire group is invited for another play date. Yesterday the boys and I went to a play date with 4 other boys who were all almost 10 months old also. Today we attended a play date for the entire club. There were 4 sets of twins 8-10 months old and several others between 18 months and 3 years old. We are just getting started with these groups and are trying to come up with fun and free/cheap activities. Both of this weeks playdates were held in members' homes. The boys had a lot of fun and left worn out! We are really looking forward to the playdates coming up this summer! We can get outside more and the boys will soon be walking and really able to enjoy all the activities around town!

This is a picture from today's playdate. Ashton is in the maroon shirt and Ayden is under him, in the green shirt. I brought my camera yesterday and forgot to take a picture!

Happy 1st Valentines Day!

As with everyday around here, Valentines Day was filled with "Double the Love"! We started out the morning with a visit to the Women's Living Expo. It was nice to just get out of the house, browse, walk and hear a lot of "Ohhh, look, how cute!!" After the expo we drove to Longhorn Steakhouse. I nursed the boys in the car and we went in for a great lunch. Jeff and I shared a yummy Blueberry Peach Margarita! We also had some scrumptious steaks! The boys sat in highchairs and ate some veggies. This was the first time for them to eat at a restaurant! They did great the entire day - no whining or crying the entire day! We were so proud of our boys! We played with them a little when we got home and then put them down for a nap. Since we were still stuffed from lunch we just had some snacks, instead of dinner, after the boys went to bed. Then, Jeff took some romantic pictures of me! It was a great day! Thank you to everyone who sent Valentines cards to the boys for their first Valentines Day! We love you all!

Ashton and Mommy

Ayden and Daddy

JKitz Photography

www.jkitz.com

I did it!

Tonight Jeff had a dinner meeting and was not going to be able to get home until after the boys went to bed. Every time he has had to be away someone else has been here to help with at least part of the bedtime routine. Tonight I did it all by myself! I guess considering they are almost 10 months old, and I take care of them all by myself all day, I should have been able to do it. But, there is just something different about doing the bedtime routine alone! Anyway, things went great! The boys went to bed clean, with full tummies and, best of all, happy!

This is what happens when you don't close the baby gate! (Ashton, of course!)

Ayden learned to pull up to his knees yesterday!

Making the switch!

Soon after finding out we were pregnant I decided I wanted to use cloth diapers. Well, after the ultrasound revealed we were having twins I was a little overwhelmed and decided that cloth, along with everything else, might just be too much! Over the last couple months I have become interested again and, after much deliberation, we have decided to make the switch. I have several reasons for wanting to use cloth. First, we were on pace for spending well over $1,000 on diapers in just one year. I will be able to purchase all of my cloth diapers and supplies to last until the boys are potty trained for about $300. Second, I recently read that more than 16 billion diapers end up in landfills each year! Therefore, I would like to do my part in keeping our environment as clean as possible. Third, the boys have started to have some eczema/dry skin issues around their diaper area and I am hoping this will help. I received my first shipment of "fluffy mail" today. I currently have 10 diapers with 8 more on the way. I am trying a few brands/styles to start with. So far we have Blueberry, Haute Pockets and Fuzzi Bunz. I also have some Bum Genius on the way. This afternoon I put the boys in cloth for the first time. They actually noticed the difference and kept looking down at the colorful fabric and rubbing their hands over this new texture. I have to say the first day went well and I am anticipating a long love affair with this new fluffiness!

Ashton and Ayden in their first cloth diapers! (Not our parents generation of cloth diapers!) They are playing with their new HABA toys from Grandma and Grandpa Kitsmiller!

Such cute little fluffy bums!!

If you are interested in cloth diapering their are lots of resources out there!
I am entered to win FREE fuzzi bunz diapers and you can too! Visit http://dexterphilip.blogspot.com/ for more info. Also check out some of our new diapers at http://www.fuzzibunz.com/. I am definitely not a pro yet but, feel free to ask questions. I will be keeping you up to date with our adventures in cloth diapering!

9 month pictures

Since the boys were born we have tried a couple different places to have their pictures taken. There are pros and cons to everywhere, and it seems to be a matter of what is most important. This time we decided to go back to MotoPhoto. They allow a long time for the sitting so we don't feel rushed, they just snap away with the camera, and they show us all the pictures and let us pick the best. This was, as always, a crazy photo sitting! Ayden, in new form, was, as the technician referred to him, "angelic"! He did nearly everything we wanted him to do! He sat very patiently for a long time. Ashton, on the other hand, was not aware we were trying to take "still" photography! He was crawling all over the studio floor! It did not matter whether we sat him down or laid him down, he was crawling away within seconds. I was literally working up a sweat chasing after him and repositioning him. Both were so enamored with the new environment, bright lights and silly toys that it was hard to get smiles out of them, or at least at the same time! All in all it was a good time and we got some great pictures! She took around 150 pictures and we finally got that narrowed down to 24. We are still trying to decide what to get - feel free to leave your opinions! You are welcome to view the pictures here.