I'll just start out with dates and work my way up to telling the story. There are a lot of pictures and a LOT of things to say. Take your time!! Don't get overwhelmed. You may need to pause and go get some water, but join back when you think you can keep going!! (hehehehe)
August 9James and I got the boys some floor mats that we have put out on our wooden patio in our back yard. I was having to put down blankets so they could be outside, but that got to be a pain. The dog would walk all over them and get them dirty so I would end up doing a lot of laundry. So this works great cause I can just hose it off. The boys love the sound it makes when they run their feet over it really fast. It is really nice to have. If only we had a gazebo or something to keep the sun off it. The picture shows our table umbrella, but that isn't a good solution. Oh well. We only have a couple more months that we will be able to be outside anyway.
August 10I did a small photo shoot with the boys. They were watching tv so I got all smiles, but no one looking at the camera! :)
We also had a get-together with our Mom's group from church at a park in town. It was a really nice day. Lots of people were in the park. I took a cake for the boys' birthday to share. It was a hit. But, the boys had to take a nap while everyone else (who didn't need a nap) was down playing in the creek. I put their bassinets from their stroller under a tree and they slept well there. I think they slept for a good hour and a half.
One of the highlights of the park is the miniature train that runs around the park. The boys just went crazy looking at it every time it would pass. We didn't ride it because it was $1.50 a person (and I don't know how much they would have enjoyed riding). They did just fine just watching it go by.
August 11More pictures of the boys. Here is Grant. He LOVES the camera. Can you tell?
Alex was trying to take the camera away from me.
We emptied a diaper box and I decided to let Ethan play in it. He stayed in this spot for over an hour. He played and played. He complained once I took him out, but it was nap time. Needless to say we have that box hanging around now.
August 12My miracle babies turned 1 year old. I took quite a few pictures of them because I was trying to get comparison pictures (see post below for those pictures). Here are a few of the "blooper" pictures. Alex tried to bite Grant. He can't quite dig his teeth in yet, but he is trying. Needless to say, we are trying to nip that in the bud pretty quickly so it doesn't get worse.
Here is my cutie-pie Ethan!! :)
1 year old! Can you believe we made it? Some days I can't. It was a LONG hard road this first year. I have laughed more, cried more, and gotten less sleep that I ever thought I would. But, it has also been a wonderful year. I can't imagine not having these three in my life! Ethan, Alex and Grant...
August 14We held the boys' 1 year birthday party at my parents' house. We had about 30 people come over and help us celebrate. We started off with some tacos and then opened presents. The boys got to see their cake, but then needed a bottle and a nap. Then they got to have a bit of cake. Here are a few pictures from the day.
Alex and Madison Cone (my bff's oldest who is 5 months older than the boys).
During the party, Great-Aunt Donna joined in via Skype. It was really cool. She got to watch as the presents were being opened. Then Grant talked to her on the computer. Well, he more or less just watched her talk to him. It was fun though.
This is my cousins Ryan and Alecia. My best friend Jami and her baby Emma. Me and my cousin Jeromy.
Preparing to dive into the presents.
Ethan reading a card (well, maybe not reading, but playing with it!!)
Ethan was a bit fussy during the beginning of the presents, so Great-Aunt Mimi rescued him and put him in a gift bag. He sat there for the rest of the party and played with the bag and the tissue paper.
Grant LOVED all the attention.
Alex's lips started turning blue from the tissue paper going to his mouth. So, Aunt Mimi took away all tissue paper with color. They didn't seem to mind.
It was quite the ordeal, but it was fun. The boys got some GREAT presents that they love to play with and a ton of clothes to wear during the winter months. Thank you to everyone who gave to us. What wonderful friends and family we have!! :)
Grandpa help Alex play with the wheels on the truck. Alex LOVES wheels. He cried the other day at our church group because some bigger kids were playing in the Little Tikes cars and he wanted to spin the wheels on them. We finally tipped one car on it's side so he could play with the wheels.
Here is my first attempt at decorating a cake. We bought the cake from a bakery with just plain white frosting and the green edging. I did the rest of the cake. The A, 1, and G are supposed to kind of be clouds (that is why they are white. The bird in the middle is Chica from "The Sunny Side Up Show" on the Sprout channel. The boys love watching Chica in the mornings. The barn is what they call the Sunshine Barn.
I have to tell you what everything is, because I feel inventive and maybe you might want to use some of my ideas (who knows.) But anyway... The sky and grass are colored sprinkles. I put those on last, very heavy, and used a fork to spread them around. The brown parts of the barn are a chocolate cookie icing that hardens. Chica's nest is something called Mix-Ins. It is chunks of Butterfinger crushed up with some chocolate sprinkles (It was the most demanded section of the cake when it came time to serve the cake.) The rest is just the normal off the shelf frosting. I cut out some templates from pictures online and pressed them into the white icing to get outlines. I then filled the different colors in and drew on the outlines. It was fun to do. I can't wait to see what I get to do next year!! :)
So we set the boys behind the cake to get a picture of them and the cake. So what does Ethan do? He tries to grab a hold of the cake.
Once he realized it wasn't solid he held his hands up like he was saying "ewwwww".
But, someone else was watching him do that. Alex decided it was his turn. They got a bit messy, but it was fun for them. (We didn't do individual cakes for them because I didn't think they would dive into them or even touch them.)
The boys didn't get to eat cake in front of the whole group because they needed to have a bottle and take a nap. They were pretty worn out from the day. But once they got up from their nap, I decided to see what they would do with a small piece of cake.
They kind of touched it. We had to feed it to them. The sort of liked it, but they would not feed themselves. That's ok. It is taking them time to figure that out.
Grant thought the cake itself was pretty good, but the frosting wasn't his favorite.
Alex liked it all.
Ethan was spreading it all over the place, but he ate a little bit. He also like the actual cake part best.
The birthday party was a blast. Thanks to all who attended!!
August 17
The boys got a pool for their birthday. I decided to put it to good use one day after dinner. The boys were pretty messy from their meal, James was not home from work yet, and I didn't want to try and do baths up in their bathroom all by myself. So I pulled the pool out, put it in the kitchen, and filled it with water.
The boys LOVED it. It was easy for me to do too. James came home and just had to take a picture of it though... so here you go for your amusement.
August 18
I don't have any pictures from this day, but I do have a lot to share.
Alex started crawling that morning. He had been army crawling/scooting around on his belly for a few days, but he got up on his hands and knees that morning and just took off. I was so proud of him!! I have to get a good video of him crawling. He is all over the house now. We have to finish baby proofing the house now (most of it is done, we just have to put a few more locks on cabinets.)
That afternoon we had the boys' 1 year check up. A friend from church joined me at the doctors office so I didn't have to try and wrangle them all by myself. She was a God-send!!
The boys are growing great and developing great. The doc said that they are right where they are supposed to be developementally (9 month olds).
Here are their 1 year stats.
Alex - 20lbs 13oz, 29.5 inches
Grant - 22lbs 3oz, 29 inches
Ethan - 17lbs 6oz, 27.5 inches
Alex may be lighter than Grant, but he is surely keeping up on height! Ethan is finally catching up on height a bit, but is still behind on weight. That is ok. He is on his own growth curve and that is all they want to see for him.
We started the boys on whole milk on their birthday and they have been doing great with it. It saves us a lot of money now. Instead of spending about $300 a month on formula, we will spend about $50 a month on milk. A gallon of milk lasts us about a day and a half (maybe). But it saves us so much money. I am so glad that they can drink it and are not alergic or anything. However, they WILL NOT drink it cold. They flat out refuse. Any suggestions on how to get them from warm milk to cold milk would be greatly appreciated.
We are still working on getting them to be able to eat "table food" not baby food anymore. They are progressing slowly. They still have gagging episodes and throw up some, but they are getting better at it. We even started feeding them 3rd foods for dinner (they used to have a duel texture issue, but they are getting over that.) They are getting teeth to start and chew things up, instead of just gumming things.
Teeth count....
Alex- 5 total- 3 bottom, 2 top
Grant- 4 total- 2 bottom, 2 top (kind of, one top one is still pushing through)
Ethan- 2 total- 2 bottom
August 21
My mom came to visit and attend a meeting this past weekend. She didn't get to see the boys much but when she did she had some quality time with them. We even got a picture of her holding all three (this is a rare thing to happen lately as they all want to go and move constantly). It turned out well.
The boys also went to a friends house for the evening so James and I could have a night off!! It was their FIRST time at a sitters house. I think it was our first time to have a baby sitter so we could go out in the evening (other than Grandparents that is). It was really nice to be able to go out. The boys did ok. They were in a strange place so they didn't sleep well. Alex threw up on one of the girls helping out (I felt really bad that happened but she took it well). But we may just be able to use them again for a sitter if we need to. It might be nice to have someone to watch the boys once in a while so James and I can have a date. We'll see though.
Whew... you made it!!! Do you feel exhausted? Well, just keep on keeping on, and soon you will get the hang of it.
Oh, ok. I'll stop with the cheesy workout video references.
Thanks for reading. And thank you for all the thoughts and prayers throughout this past year. I know that those prayers have carried us through some rough times.
God bless you all.
Love,
Jessica
