Escape!

We caught Oliver doing this the other day in the playroom.  He was pulling his whole body off the floor doing baby pull-ups!  I think he wants the weather to hurry and warm up so we can start exploring the playground again... now that he can almost walk and definitely climb!

Look at that mischievous smile...

Walking with Choo Choo

Owen has really taken a liking to walking around the playroom and hallway with his Choo Choo train.  We thought Oliver would be the first to walk, but Owen has shown the most interest and effort lately.  This week he learned how to turn it around and go the other way after bumping into a wall or other obstacle.  And he's getting more adventurous by pushing it with one hand, while using the other to pick up blocks along the way.























Oliver still likes the Choo Choo train, but he's more interested in the activities on the side of it and trying to put blocks into the slot at the top.  When Owen's pushing it around, Oliver will try and crawl after him and (usually unsuccessfully) grab a block off the side or pop one in on top while moving.  You can hear his frustration in this video.

Spinning Top

The boys have been having a lot of fun lately playing with the spinning top Grand Bobby and Dee got them for Christmas.  They love to put the red part you're supposed to push in their mouths most of all.  Even after you set it off spinning for them, they immediately grab it and put in their mouth!   

Jump On Wesley

Wesley is such a good cat - by now he's learned his place in the hierarchy and doesn't resist baby attacks.  He even chooses to play with the babies in their playroom when given the chance.  This video is funny because Oliver really throws himself on top of Wesley and drags him around the floor a bit.  And all Wesley does is let out a little meow and gets up to walk away once finally released.  What a cat!

Some More Christmas Pics

A few more Christmas pictures... the first order of business once we let the babies loose under the tree that morning was for them to knock the train off the tracks and pull the whole thing apart of course, followed by putting just about all members of the nativity scene in their mouths.

I think Owen's favorite toy was the Harley ride-on bike Ryan's Aunt Aline sent us.  It is a beautiful wooden bike that can roll in any direction the boys push it with their feet.  Oliver is just a tad shorter than Owen right now and can barely touch the ground with his feet.  But Owen took right to the bike, grabbing the handlebars and moving all around the family room.  He thinks it's his right now since Oliver can't ride it, but that will change very soon!

Overall, they did enjoy ripping the paper off the presents and finding new toys inside.

This one will remain more "daddy's toy" until the boys are much older - a remote control car that Ryan can entertain himself, the boys, and Wesley with for hours.  It's funny to watch their different reactions to it - Oliver will chase it down trying to pull the antenae off, Owen quickly crawls into my lap where it's safe, and Wesley just looks cautiously intrigued.

Christmas Day Surprise

Owen decided to surprise us on Christmas morning with a new trick.  While opening presents around the tree in the family room, he wandered over and started crawling up the 3 stairs leading into the kitchen.  Since we already had the cameras out, we were able to catch it on video.  It's funny how vocal he gets when he's trying a new skill.

Here's another attempt a few minutes later - you can see how much he improves in a short time.  It's cute how excited he gets at the end.

First Colds

It's been so long since I've been able to write a new post!  We've all been very sick since about 2 days after Christmas - first Owen, then me, then Oliver, and lastly Ryan.  This was the first time the babies have ever been sick, and they were not very happy about it!  Luckily it was just a bad cold, no ear infections.  I learned that it takes a long time for a baby's cold to go away (the doctor said expect up to 2 weeks), particularly because there isn't much they can take for it and they don't know how to blow their own noses!  It also takes a long time for sick mommies and daddies to get better when they aren't getting any sleep because the babies are waking up every 30 minutes to an hour at night, uncomfortable and congested.  The only thing that helped them relax and fall asleep was to bring them into our bed and help them fall asleep by rubbing or patting their backs.  We were also too tired and sick ourselves to put in the effort of rocking them back to sleep, standing over their cribs waiting, etc. as we would normally do during a night wake up.  I think they've discovered they like sleeping with us as it's already been difficult to transition them back to their cribs. 

Even though they were sick and needed extra sleep, we couldn't let them sleep in too much past their normal wake up time of 7am (as much as we wanted to) or else the rest of the day and bedtime that night would become a disaster.  Instead we allowed slightly longer naps.  Sometimes we let them sleep in as much as an hour in the morning, but even then bedtime was difficult because it's not as simple as pushing everything forward 1 hour!  It takes several days for their bodies to realize a major schedule change like that (such as daylight savings time).  Here's a video of Owen reluctantly waking up one morning.  It's funny how he still looks confused and lost each time he looks around our room and realizes he's not in his crib...but you can see how happy he is once he figures it out!