The Best Part of My Day

The best part of my day is when I get home in the evening for bath time. The commute is long and therefore sometimes Daddy doesn't always make it home in time to see his boys. This has been especially true for the past couple of weeks as we pushed towards our deadline of February 29th. Well, today we officially wrapped up our work and that meant I was out of there as fast as my little legs would take me.

According to Mommy, the day started off really well. The morning nap was over an hour for each of the boys. After the nap, Jennifer had to take Cooper to physical therapy so that meant Caleb got to go as well. As I have mentioned numerous times before, the boys have gotten really good in the car. Almost too good as we can't keep them awake after some of our trips so we end up driving around so they will sleep. It really is amazing because they will sleep for an hour and a half driving down the road, but the act of putting them in their cribs while asleep wakes them up ready and raring to go. After PT, Jennifer had to drive around for about an hour so they would take a nap. Like I said, up until this point the day was going really good. After arriving home, Jennifer and the boys played until it was time for their daily walk with our news friends and neighbors. According to Jennifer, Caleb just wasn't digging the idea of a walk today so they had to cancel.

Eventually Jennifer was able to get them both to sleep for about 30 minutes and then it was time to go on a walk. I left work at 4:30 today after giving Jennifer specific instructions to keep walking until I could get home to give them their baths. Well, alls well that ends well. We gave the boys their baths and put them down about 6:30. We had a small spell with both of them about 9, but tonight has been good other than that. I am REALLY tired right now. So tired that I am going to predict tonight to be the first night in quite some time that they sleep through the night. They just have to know how much Daddy needs it.

FYI, we are headed to Lufkin this weekend. I will try to get a post in some time tomorrow, but no promises. So for all of Cooper and Caleb's fans, you will just have to be patient and let me catch up with plenty of pictures from Lufkin with Gran, Granddad, Mema, Papa and the gang.

Math Majors!

First things first: Cooper and Caleb want to send a little love and wish everyone from the South Texas College of Law good luck on the BAR exam!

While I agree that it makes the most sense when you are in the middle of "30 blogs in 30 days" to make one post each day for 30 days, however missing one day does not mean I have missed my goal. This post officially puts me back on track, so all of you naysayers out there can rest peacefully.

Sleeping through the night has been somewhat of an adventure these past few weeks. And by adventure, I mean complete and total failure. The last time we slept through the night was about a month ago when we went to Lufkin for the weekend. This is really surprising because it seems that the boys take after their mother when it comes to needing sleep. The picture below is perfect evidence of this.

You will obviously notice that Cooper has received his helmet. The first question that people always ask when we tell them about his helmet is how does it affect him. The answer is that he really doesn't even notice it. They even say that when they put the helmet on older kids it becomes something similar to a security blanket and taking it away is more difficult than getting used to it. In an effort to make sure that Caleb doesn't feel left out, we have decided to go ahead with getting him a helmet as well. Let's just hope that the folks @ The Woodlands Orthotics and Prosthetics have more luck with the insurance company than we did because these things aren't cheap.

Here are a few pics to help fill out the blog:

The boys are mobile enough now that you can just put them on the floor and let them play with each other. They will roll around and grab each other's hear, pull on their clothes and generally just poke at each other. It is really cute and also provides a few minutes rest for whoever is responsible for watching them.

Caleb is already starting to study up to make sure he is on track when it is time to fill out his application to Texas A&M University! WHOOP!

A New Tooth!

Those of you who follow the blog know that the boys are supposed to wake up @ 7 a.m. That way Daddy can get ready while Mommy sleeps. Well Tuesday morning @ 6, Cooper decided it was time to get up. Little did we know that there was a reason. For the past 3 months, Jennifer will stick her fingers in the boys mouths to try and see if there are any teeth. This morning we struck gold. It is offiicial, Cooper has a tooth!

His tooth isn't quite big enough to get a good picture of just yet. But now that we have confirmation he is teething pictures like the one above make so much more sense. There is literally nothing that he won't put in his mouth. Jennifer called me today to let me know that we no longer needed our paper shredder because Cooper had taken a liking to chewing on mail. For the parent police out there, no we don't let him chew on mail all the time. It was just something that would keep Cooper appeased today.

Now lets take a few minutes to talk about Caleb. Early indications are that Caleb is going to be a contestant on American Idol Season 20 because he absolutly loves the drum set that the Essers gave him this past weekend.

Sitting up is a new occurrence for the boys as well. They still wobble pretty bad, but as long as you are paying attention to them, they will sit on their bottoms and play to their little hearts content.

I am actually thinking about setting my retirement date now because I am that confident Caleb is going to support his Mommy and Daddy with his millions.

Solids are always an adventure!

When I decided to start the "30 Blogs in 30 Days" movement there was no mention of timeliness with regards to posting. I thought about starting Day 3 while I was at work today, but figured that probably wouldn't be viewed as the most productive use of my time.

Day 3 is going to be a quick one since it is late and I am tired.

The best part about starting solid foods is trying to be somewhat conscious of how big of a mess you are making and then about half way through completely giving up and just laughing at the two grubby little boys in front of you.

There are some foods with less color that you can pretend don't get everywhere. To be honest that just means the likelihood of finding remnants of lunch in their ears, eyebrows, toes, etc. is just all that more likely.

Granddad's Hard Work is paying off . . .

ZSDFX . . . . As I was beginning my post Cooper decided that he wanted to blog as well. "ZSDFX" is Cooper-ese for "Happy Birthday Granddad!"

So every time I talked to my Dad, he asks "Are they walking yet?" To this I respond that they are only 7 months old and there are numerous milestones to be achieved before we start walking. Despite my efforts to convince Granddad otherwise he is persistent in trying to get them both to walk. Every time he holds Cooper or Caleb (he never really knows which one) he makes them stand and hold their weight with their legs. Well, I am proud to report that we are starting to see some progress from his efforts.

These pictures were taken this morning after Cooper woke up from his 2 hour nap. You might ask why I point out his nap was two hours long, well that is because it has been a while since we have seen any two hour naps. Shorty makes sure she keeps me apprised of their nap timing every day. Let's just say that for the past few weeks her reports haven't been all that positive!

So now we are on Day 2 of 30 blogs in 30 days . . .

Our trip to Pearland yesterday was a rousing success. The boys had a great time with Nate, Sara, and Andi. We were a little worried about the distance from The Woodlands to Pearland, but my two big boys either played quietly in their car seats or just went to sleep. It has been really nice lately because the car has basically been like baby ambien for both of them. If we put them in their car seats around nap time, they just fall right asleep.

The plan for today is to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Our plan is to go to the park and then possibly head to Market Street! If you are in the neighborhood, that is where we will be!

Saturday Morning @ Kroger!

One of my favorite things to do with the boys is get out of the house first thing on Saturday morning and head up to Kroger. I get a small coffee, newspaper and a few donuts and then push the boys around the store letting them look at everything. It is actually quite relaxing, the boys love being in public and most of all Shorty gets some uninterupted sleep.

Ok, let me start this off with I am very proud of my kids and really do enjoy talking to anyone and everyone who stops to say how cute they are or how good they are being. I don't get a lot of exposure to that with the whole job thing, so experiencing a little of what Jennifer gets to do on a daily basis is fun. In fact, that is partly the reason that I go through the exhaustive effort of getting two infants out of the house by yourself before the morning nap.

However, there are a few things that the general public should know about my personal preferences when it comes to interacting with me and my children:

TOUCHING - Those of you who know me and know the boys, know that I have no problems handing my kids off to you. Again, because they have such great personalities and are so good with strangers, I take a small amount of pride in that. Not to mention the fact that there are two of them and Jennifer and I essentially have a baby in our hands for most of the day. Therefore it is kinda nice to sit back and relax.

Do you think it would be somewhat rude of me to attach a sign to their stroller that said something like this:

HI! Our names are Cooper and Caleb. We are

7 months old and put EVERYTHING in our mouths.

Therefore, unless you have certified clean enough

for space travel, HANDS OFF!

I am not trying to be rude, but if you spend 2 minutes with the boys, you will quickly find out that they have no qualms with putting fingers, jewelry, hair, clothes, food, etc. in their mouths. In all actuallity, I worry about the germs that I introduce to them just from going to and from work everyday so I don't even want to know everything that the checkout lady @ Kroger has been exposed too. Again, not trying to be rude because the lady is really nice and I take the boys to see her every Saturday, but why does she feel the need to stick her fingers in Cooper's mouth.

Parenting Advice - OK, I am no expert in the parenting field. In fact, if Jennifer were not so diligent in her research I am sure our house would be filled with choking hazards, BPA ridden death traps. But, just because I stop to talk to you in the grocery store does not mean that you are now allowed to impart knowledge upon me. It has been cold recently. It is freakin winter, but that doesn't mean that we are going to stay couped up in the house all day long. I make sure that I know what the weather is like before we leave the house and don't have any intentions of exposing them to elements that are outside their 7 month old body's tolerance. So when you see me in public, please don't ask "You didn't walk here did you because it is way to cold out there for them?" No $HIT, thanks for the advice, June Cleaver.

Alright, enough ranting! The whole family is headed to Pearland today to visit the Essers. Nate, Sara and Andi are really good friends and we try to get together with them at least once per quarter. Andi's birthday is coming up so we got her a really nice surprise!

Finally, February 23rd marks the beginning of 30 blogs in 30 days. Last night when I should have been sleeping I was going through the O'shaunnessey (sp?) blog and realized that Emily is much better at this whole blogging thing than I am. That could very well be because they do a whole lot more than we do, but we will just have to wait and see.

Stay tuned for more updates and get excited about 30 blogs in 30 days!

Happy Birthday, K-maw!

Happy Birthday K-Maw!

The first order of business is to give a little love to K-Maw on her 26th birthday! Mommy and Daddy got to spend Saturday night in Austin with K-Maw, Adam and the whole crew. Details on the evening are provided below!

A Night out in the A-TX!

A few weeks ago we overheard Mommy in her daily talks with K-Maw mention that there was a big party in Austin that they were thinking about attending. Now, those of you who keep up with the blog know that we are not quite ready to sleep through the night. This means that Mommy and Daddy can be up 1, 2, 3 or even 4 times a night with us. For this reason, we decided that Mommy and Daddy needed a night off. We got on the phone with Gran and Granddad and set up the babysitters so that Mommy and Daddy could go have fun. They left about 2:30 on Saturday afternoon, but we were having so much fun with Gran and Granddad that we barely even noticed.

After Daddy got back he gave us a recap of how the night went:

The weather was pretty rough on the ride over to Austin. We knew this was a possibility, but Daddy can do anything so we weren't worried. It took about 3 hours to get into Austin. Mommy and Daddy met up with A-Maw and Lauren (pronounced "Law-ren") at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Austin Central. The hotel was perfect! Lauren had used points so it was free for Mommy and Daddy! After an hour of so of primping, the ladies were ready to go and everyone headed to Santa Rita's for dinner.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by Big Phil and Ronna, John Friesen and his girlfried, Katie Friesen and her boyfried, Kristen Friesen and her boyfriend, K-Maw and Adam, Leane and Hunter Haglund, Laura Friesen, Brandi and Ainsley. Dinner and plenty of adult beverages ensued. About 9:30 Big Phil cracked the whip and said that we had to get to Esther's Follies immediately or they were going to give away their reservation. Everybody jumped into the cars and headed to downtown Austin.

Esther's Follies is a comedy show on 6th Street in Downtown Austin. Basically they make fun of current events, political figures, celebrities and people in the audience. There is also a big portion of the show dedicated to magic. The show was amazing and everyone really enjoyed it. The best part was when Daddy got picked to go up on stage and start his acting career. He has basically been strutting around the house all day claiming that he is going to start acting.

After the show everyone went to another local establishment and hung out. Mommy and Daddy got tired early and headed back to the hotel to get six straight hours of sleep!

Mommy and Daddy wanted us to send a special thanks to Big Phil and Ronna for organizing the evening in the A-TX!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Cooper and Caleb's first Valentine's Day! They got their mommy Willowtree figurines that look just like them...

Cooper is the one chewing on his hand and Caleb would be the one playing with his feet. I got the boys a brand new stroller for Valentine's Day. I am sure they will enjoy it as much as I will. They haven't given Daddy their gift yet, so we can't ruin the surprise....but I am sure he will let ya'll know what he gets!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!