Whewww...it's finally over!

Thanks for the new shirts Aunt Amy!

11 months old already!

Our busy month of March is finally ending! Our busy weekend countdown is going to have to combine weekends three and four because they just sort of blended into one another and I never even had a chance to blog about it. So, here it goes.

Friday March 20th I was scheduled to do a presentation at a breakout session for my former employer. I have attended the Conscious Discipline Institute with Dr. Becky Bailey twice and she was coming to Tulsa again for CAP (Community Action Project - my former employer). I just couldn't leave my sweet boys everyday for a week to be a group leader, but I did tell them I would be a one day presenter. I was gone from about 10-2 and "Aunt" Lindsey stayed with Ashton and Ayden. They did great and had fun spending time with Lindsey! Daddy left on Friday about 11 to met up with all of his St. Louis buddies in Branson for their annual March Birthday Bash. Many of them have March birthdays and several of them turned 30 this year so they decided to do something a little bigger this year! They had a great time at a condo on Table Rock Lake. Since Jeff was having his fun I decided to have some girls over, after the boys went to bed, for a "For Ladies Only" Party and to celebrate Lindsey's birthday. We had a great wine spritzer I made up and some fun conversation and games!

Saturday morning the boys and I got up and headed up to Grove to see Grandma and Grandpa Adams and GG (great grandma). As always, we had a great time getting spoiled with attention and good food! Sunday we went to church and watched Grandma play in the bell choir. The boys loved the music and Ayden liked to put in his "two cents" every once in awhile! Daddy came home Sunday night, but we stayed in Grove until Monday morning.

Ashton and GG

Ayden and Grandpa

We got back home with just enough time to eat lunch and unload the car and then in was back in the car seats for a trip to the Pediatric Opthamalagist for the boys' semi annual checkup. When they were 5 months old they were diagnosed with Ocular Albinism and Nystagmus. This is a genetic eye condition that comes from my side of the family. My dad has it and my sister and I are carriers. My sister's 2 1/2 year old son has it as well. It is an X chromosome linked disorder so all of our boys have a 50% chance of having the condition. The boys seem to have a pretty mild case from what we know right now. The PO is estimating their vision to be about 80-100/20. The symptoms of this condition include light sensitivity and a moving of their eyes from side to side (nystagmus). Only time will tell how this will impact them and the true severity of their cases, but as of right now things seem to be looking good and it does not seem to effect them. After this appointment we went to their regular pediatrician's office down the street to show him some strange sores the boys had developed over the weekend. He gave us a prescription and we were on our way back home.

Tuesday we went to Wal-Mart to fill the prescription and pick up some groceries. I always hate going to the store with the boys to pick up more than just a few items because there is no room for groceries once I get both car seats on top of the cart! This time I decided to put one boy in the front and leave one in his car seat in the cart. Ashton gets more impatient in his seat, so he got to sit up front. He was so excited to have his first experience sitting like a big boy and looking all around. Another definite plus to this set up was that it was not so obvious that I had twins, therefore, I did not get stopped so often! Old people at Wal-Mart are the worst about talking my ear off and oohhing and awwwing for way too long!

Wednesday a friend I met from my local twin club, Christen, brought her boys over for a play date. All the boys had a great time and we are already planning for the next date!

Things started to go down hill on Thursday! I was woken at 5:30am by Ayden crying. When I went into the nursery I was overcome by the smell of vomit and found Ayden covered in crusty wet stuff! Ugghhh, what a way to wake up! Throughout the day he threw up two more times and then got diarrhea as well. Daddy picked up some Pedialyte on the way home and Ayden continued to nurse a lot throughout the day.

Friday was the beginning of the Spring TMOM's garage sale. I have been preparing for this day for several weeks now. I have been sorting through baby items deciding what to keep and what to sell and tagging those items. I had volunteered to set up Friday morning so my neighbor, Jackie, brought her kids over and watched Ashton and Ayden. I was gone from about 10-2 and when I returned Jackie told me that Ashton got "the bug". During nap time Ashton had thrown up in his crib and was covered in it! He also started having diarrhea while I was gone. Friday evening TMOM member's were allowed to shop before the sale opened to the public on Saturday. Jeff and I each "wore" a boy while we shopped. We found a few fun toys and a couple cute summer outfits. I am sure this is how every dad dreams of celebrating his birthday! Thanks honey! You are the best! Happy Birthday!

Some of our new fun toys! This helped pass the snowy, sickly weekend!

Saturday morning Jeff got up and worked the early shift at the garage sale. While he was gone it started snowing huge snowflakes! By the afternoon we had 6-8 inches of snow on the ground. Luckily the streets were pretty slushy. We had to go back out in the afternoon to pick up what was left of our items from the garage sale. We won't know how much we made for a few weeks yet but we sold all of our large items and a lot of clothes. We stayed home the rest of the day changing diapers! None of us felt good by this point. I started feeling sick on Friday and Jeff on Saturday. We don't know if it was related to what the boys had or not, but luckily neither of us threw up! Boy am I glad March is over!

This was about an hour into the huge, sticky flakes!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Another first holiday for my baby boys! This is one of their last "first holidays" as we quickly approach their one year birthday! I still can't believe it! Anyway, the boys were not able to indulge in any green beer this year but they did enjoy some green zucchini squash and some green kiwi!

This was the scene greeting me when I went into the nursery during the afternoon nap!

I guess Ayden got his diaper unfastened before he fell asleep! Luckily his diaper still didn't leak!

Mary Kay, Rainbow Girls, and blood!

Well, two busy March weekends down, two to go! On Saturday the boys and I headed off to a camp near Guthrie where I was presenting a Mary Kay skin care and make up presentation to about 85 Rainbow girls participating in a leadership workshop. We left when it was time for their morning nap and it took us about two hours to get there. I got there early to nurse the boys, feed them lunch and get set up - I guess I should have arrived even earlier because I felt very rushed! I am a majority member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls so I was among old friends and it was hard not to visit! Many of the people there had never met the boys so they were a big hit, of course! The presentation went great and the boys did pretty good with their "babysitters". Ayden, "M.B." (Momma's Boy), wasn't so sure about being around all the strangers, but as you can see he did find someone he liked!

He went from this.....

to this...in no time!

Checking out the girl!

The theme for the weekend involved Mardi Gras and, since the boys are teething, they loved chewing on all the chunky beads. I was finished just in time to load up the boys in the car and drive home during their afternoon nap. Daddy had run some errands and gone grocery shopping while we were gone and was ready and waiting when we returned home.

Sunday "Aunt" Lindsey came over and visited us for the afternoon. While she was here Ashton was showing off his skills and feel hitting his mouth on the base of the couch. When I picked him up I saw a mom's worst nightmare - BLOOD was coming from his mouth! This was the first time either of my boys have bleed, with the excepting of shots! I don't know if his new little bottom tooth cut his upper gums or if his upper gums hit the base of the couch, but his upper gums were bleeding pretty good for a little bit. He seems to be okay now - poor boy!

Now, we are planning for our third crazy March weekend!

Music To Grow By

This is where we had a great playdate this week! The boys loved all the new music, instruments and new toys. We are thinking about making this a weekly class when the new class schedule comes out.

Ashton really enjoyed the scarves!

Ayden loved this ball - and it had to be THIS ball! He even crawled around chasing after it with lots of toddlers and more ball going everywhere!

Double the Laughs

"Brotherly Love"



I have been really bad about updating about the boys for the last few weeks. We have been really busy and the boys are learning lots! They just seem to get funnier every day! March is the busiest month we have had since before the boys were born. We are a little nervous about everything we have planned, but I am sure in the end it will all turn out great. We have started trying to get the boys on more table foods. It is not going great, but we are getting there. They are now eating the same time we are and we are doing a combination of homemade baby food (pureed/chunky), fruit/veggies as a finger food, and a little of what we are eating. They are also currently enjoying taking more walks in this nice spring weather we have been having and splashing around in the bathtub! We are not sure if it is the time change or teething, but bedtime has been a little rough this week! We had a visit from all the grandma's this week. Jeff's mom, Grandma Kitsmiller was here Friday through Sunday. We had a great time playing, shopping and eating Mexican! My mom and grandma,Grandma Adams and GG (great-grandma), were here Sunday evening and Monday morning. We also had a great time shopping and eating! (Notice a trend...) Sorry, no pictures, I was too busy to take pictures this time! We are also in the midst of planning the boys first birthday celebration! Can you believe it has been almost a year already?!

Mommy's little helpers!

They play together a lot and love to wrestle! When we are on the floor with them they climb up us, over us, under us... We are their favorite toy!

This is a newly introduced toy. Ashton, of course, loved it from the moment we put it down!

Ayden, on the other hand, was not so sure about this new contraption! It has taken him 3 weeks, but he did finally crawl through without any coaxing!

Ashton is now pulling up on EVERYTHING! Thankfully, he is learning to get down a little more gracefully! We have had more than our quota of bruises for this month! Last week he even began transferring between the table, couch and our legs, as well as cruising along the couch and table! I am not sure I am ready for all this, but I guess it's too late now! Daddy taught him how to take the lid off the basketball shaped toy box this weekend, so now that is his new favorite game. Ashton no longer has his sweet gummy smile! It has been replaced with a sweet toothy smile! Always the one to do things his own way, his first tooth was a top one. The second broke through yesterday on the bottom. He has 2-3 more that will be through anytime. You didn't think he would let Ayden get too far ahead of him did you?!

Ayden is crawling great now. He pulls up, usually only to his knees, but he is very steady at it! He loves to sit on his knees and bounce. Ayden now has 3 teeth with another one coming through any day. He has recently decided that he LOVES our pets! He can be entertained for quite awhile by just following one of the cats or our dog around the living room. Luckily, our pets have been very patient and are kind when he pulls on their tales and fur! He also plays shadow with Ashton, following him around and wanting to play with anything he does.