All Better

I think we're finally over the colds! Jared was home sick for almost a week and then Jackson and Jaden both got it within days of each other and that lasted a week. I stayed healthy fortunately. There were a couple nights I didn't get any sleep because Jackson just wanted to be held. Jaden just kind of toughed it out I guess. All in all they were happy babies when they were sick but for a couple weeks I went through about a zillion sanitizing wipes and had to wash their toys several times a day. I'm glad we're back to normal!
Jaden is now able to get things off of tables which is a whole new phase! The boys are interacting more and more which is fun to see especially since their personalities are so different.
Their birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and I can't believe it! I'm SO sad at how quickly they are growing up...BUT I have to say that the fact that I won't be pumping anymore almost makes up for it! :) That's almost 2 hours I'll get back each day - yay!
I've taken a few pictures and videos lately but haven't gotten them off my camera....maybe tonight?

The boys are really moving now. I haven't had to get any regular gates but I did get a really long one good for blocking things or I can make it into a little "pen" in case I need to make lunch or something. They boys LOVE the wood floor. They go right over to it and bang their toys on it. With a large living room to play in they hover around the edge of the wood floor! Jackson still isn't crawling but I'm wondering if he won't bother since he gets around so well. Here's a video of his army crawl. Notice at the end Jaden's new pose - he likes to be upside down and get a new view on the world....

Jaden has a new dance move. It makes me laugh....

Here's a view of Jaden's "new face" Jackson has been making this same face for about a month now when he's happy. Jaden uses it when he's both happy and sad. I wonder if he picked it up from Jackson....

Here the boys are looking out the window together...

Here is Jaden very sleepy....

Growing Up

The boys are growing so fast and I can't even believe it's been almost a year! here's some of what they've been up to.... Jaden is crawling everywhere and has successfully pulled himself up to his knees. he can also get into a sitting position all on his own. He can "dance" on command (no music or demonstration needed!) Sometimes if he hears music he will spontaneously start dancing. He can say "mama" "bob" (our dog), I THINK he said "dada" today so we're really close on that and he's starting to learn his l's and n's. He likes to smile when he sees people having a good time and laughs along if you're laughing. Jackson has turned into a very happy boy. He has a goofy 1 second grin that he'll flash often for no apparent reason. He doesn't say any words yet but has gotten much more vocal than he once was. Jackson is uninterested in crawling so far since he's very successfully figured out how to push himself around with his feet. Jackson loves the worship at church. During the fast songs he grins and waves his arms around in the air. Last week he tried to clap but he couldn't get his hands to meet so he held one hand still and clapped the other hand against it grinning the whole time! When we're at home he'll sometimes try to clap if I ask him to. Both boys can wave and Jaden is just starting to do it on his own when you're leaving and say "bye bye". They are interacting a little more now which is fun to see and both LOVE our pets and try to touch them, smile at them, talk to them, and feed them cheerios. They both think peekaboo in any form is hillarious.
Here's a video of Jaden "dancing" (pardon Jackson's crying in the background)

Here's a picture of Jaden pulling himself up on the window (the video didn't work for some reason)...

Jaden crawled over to talk with Jackson while he was in his jumper and it was super cute. Most of the noise you hear is coming from Jackson....
I put Jaden in the pack and play while doing laundry otherwise he crawls over and unfolds all the laundry. Before I took him out today Jackson decided to scoot over to talk with Jaden....

Christmas '07

We had a nice Christmas, especially since it was the boys first! My parents were in town and then on Christmas day Jared's entire family, including his uncle joined us for the entire day.
The boys had fun "opening" their gifts and having new things to play with.
On New Years day we put the boys new car seats in (still rear facing - boo!) and were planning on heading a couple hours south to pick something up. Rear facing carseats that go beyond being an infant are quite large and take up the whole back seat of our car PLUS the front seats have to be pulled up so far that Jared's knees are in the dashboard. Fortunately they can flip around in a couple months and it will be much better - I can't wait. Anyway, the carseats look quite comfy to me, but the boys have to sit up so much straighter in them. I don't think they mind too much (though it doesn't look very comfortable) except when they are trying to sleep. It doesn't work too well. I guess they'll just have to get used to it. Now when we go to a store we have to unstrap them from their seat and buckle them into the stroller. This is much more time consuming than just snapping their car seat in and out. Lots to get used to! After making a stop about half way down things were getting so ridiculous we just came home. I think we should have chosen a shorter outing as first time out in the new seats! :)
The other day Jaden decided to crawl over to me to get something from my lap. it was his first time and completely surprised me (though we knew it was coming). He's getting better at it and I'll be chasing him before too long.
Here's some Christmas pictures and a video of Jaden crawling a little!
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New Things

The boys are growing so fast! We had to lower their cribs so they can't pull themselves out! Jackson is an expert cheerio eater and Jaden just figured it out - but Jaden puts the cheerio as far back in his mouth as possible and doesn't chew or swallow it so he is constantly gagging himself!
Last weekend we got several inches of snow (which all melted Sunday night!). We decided to take the boys for a walk in their first snow. We bundled them up and put them in the stroller. When we got to the end of the driveway Jackson decided we must be killing him and wouldn't calm down so that was the end of that walk!
Jaden likes copying sounds. He often tries to copy you (though often unsuccessfully - but it's funny to watch him concentrating on it). The funniest thing is When you open a jar (and it makes that popping sound), or clap, or click your tongue - He will click his tongue back at you to copy the sound. It's super cute!
Jaden is also getting on his hands and knees now and rocking - he can even go backwards a little bit - I'll have my work cut out for me soon!
Here are some pictures of the past week....
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Jaden like so grab the end of the blanket he plays on and then gets himself stuck....


I'm pretty sure he's just learning to say his m's, but I like to say it's his first word! :)

Catching Up

The boys have been changing so much and my daily routine is drastically different than it was even a couple weeks ago! The boys are rolling everywhere (no crawling yet) and growing quite big. Jackson has 5 teeth and Jaden has two plus one of his top teeth just starting to surface. They're eating 3 meals a day on top of their bottles and doing some snacking (i often feel like all we do all day is eat when they're up!). Their naps are going a little longer which is nice for me and I now have several different things they can do when they're up so that helps them not get so fussy. It has been fun giving them different foods to try, it has been strange at the same time giving them bread and other "normal" foods when I'm so used to them only eating baby food! At their 9 month appointment Jackson weighed in at 17lbs 11oz and Jaden at 18lbs 11oz and they are both nearly 29 inches long (which means they're tall and will unfortunately outgrow their current car seats soon!)
I have alot of pictures and videos since I just took them off the camera, so here we go....
Here's a video of Jackson rolling. This was taken a few weeks ago and he rolls alot more now, but here it is anyway....


Someone gave us this jumper and the boys LOVE it. Jaden is just learning to jump in it but Jackson figured it out right away and jumped for an hour and a half straight when we first set it up....


Here's the boys working on their verbal skills...(I don't THINK I've posted this before)


Here's Jackson clearly ready for a nap...


Here's Jackson waving. I'm not sure where he learned to do this and he doesn't associate it with waving goodbye, but we're trying to teach him that and he likes copying us. In this video I'm waving at him while taking the video...


Here are a few miscellaneous pictures including the boys sitting in their high chairs for the first time....(our furniture is all in the dining room because we shampooed the carpets)
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Here's a video of one of the first times the boys had cheerios. Jaden has only managed to eat a couple but Jackson is getting pretty good. They get so excited when I put them in their chair for cheerios!....


We had a great Thanksgiving! Family and friends ate at Jared's parents house. It was fun to give the boys their first Thanksgiving feast! I brought them Turkey baby food and they also had mashed potatoes. Here are some pictures...
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And finally.... we got our Christmas tree this weekend! We decided to go cut one down. It was quite interesting to strap the boys on and go hunt for a tree. Then I had to hold both boys while Jared cut it down. Here are some pictures....
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Well, that's pretty much what's going on around here! We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

Vegas Trip

We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas. My Grandparents spoiled all of us ROTTEN! It was just the break we needed to get away from our currently crazy life! The boys did VERY well on the plane. Slept most of the time actually. Now, when I'm out and about I only give the boys formula bottles. So my plan was to get them to heat me some water on the plane and feed the boys. If I had been to a "real" airport (something other than Bellingham) I would have gotten some at starbucks before boarding since you can't take liquid through security but Bellingham has no such thing. So I asked for some on the plane and here's how the conversation went....

Me: Could I get some warm water for baby bottles?
Stewardess: We don't have any.
Me: Um, do you have a microwave?
Stewardess: nope.
Me: Ok....
Stewardess: I could empty a soda can, pour water into it and heat it in the oven. (I'm not kidding, she really said this! I guess maybe I should give her points for trying though)
Me: Well, could I just get some bottled water?
Stewardess: That will be $2.

What? I wasn't sure they would even want it (especially cold) while we were on the plane so I decided to wait and they didn't get hungry. I now realize liquid baby formula is aloud. THEN the stewardess would not let us have the babies hooked into their front packs during take off and landing. I'm sure they have a good reason, but what's funny to me is that you can't hold a computer on your lap because it might become a projectile, but a BABY, well, that's fine AND you can't hook it to you to prevent it from being a projectile :) ANYWAY, the flight was good both ways and the boys did wonderfully. The flights were pretty empty too so we were albe to get a row to ourselves. Jared and I were able to get out some with my grandpa (and sometimes everyone) and see the sights. We saw many casinos and ate some GREAT food! We had alot of fun. And of course, the most special thing of all was that the boys got to meet their great grandparents and we have lots of pictures to prove it! Speaking of pictures, here they are below. You may wonder why we took pictures of the boys in pots. Apparently when I was very very little they did the same thing to me at my grandparents house so we decided to do the same to them! :)
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