We're Back! :)

Sorry for the long absence, we've had a great summer!  Lots of visiting family, playing at school, getting jobs/working, etc.  We even potty trained!  To make up for our long time away, here's a super cute video that shows just how much our little people have grown over the summer.

Laptops and Bed-time shenanigans

Dad bought the boys two Leapfrog Leaptops for the holidays this year, and the boys love them. Unfortunately for them, they already have spilled milk onto one of the Leaptops, so only one is left that can be used by the little ones. This does provide some very cute moments of sharing, like the one below, but for the most part is troublesome as either Jude or Eli decides that the laptop is "mine!" and they get into a fight, ending in some tears for at least one baby. We can always redirect with another toy, although this is becoming increasingly less effective as their cognitive abilities have increased :-)



So bedtime has become increasingly difficult for us over the past few months. Before, the boys were pretty good about getting into bed when they needed to. Lately, they want to fight the urge to sleep like they're Stephen Colbert in hand to hand combat with a bear. To combat this effort, lately we've been trying to tire them out in their bedrooms, with Alex and myself sitting on the couch ready to read books to them once they're ready to sit and read. This sometimes works, and this video from last night is definitely one of the better night times that we've had recently. They tired themselves well out and plopped down in their nap mats, which they seem to enjoy sleeping in over their actual beds these days.



PS: Note that you can open the YouTube videos into a new window and make them HD quality. This might be better than the experience you're getting by opening the video in this page! I encourage you to try it!

Monkey Business

So about a week ago, I took the boys to the park while Mom was at the opthamologist's. They were being so goofy in the playground that I wanted to take some videos, but the only time I could pin them down for a good one was when they were swinging in the baby swings. Luckily, they were being pretty cute and creative there, too. Here's the proof!

Eli+Jude+Sliding Glass= Sillyness

Life doesn't get much better than a vacation at the beach. So far, the boys have enjoyed everything about Sarasota; it's just so calm, peaceful, sunny, warm and muggy but also breezy and dry, all at the same time. The salt water is wonderful, and one can taste it in the air. Intoxicating. Eli and Jude are having a great time too; they've been to the beach, played in the sand, splashed in the waves, dived in the pool (which they are learning to hold their breath too!) and eaten at all the local spots.

The boys are having so much fun, and so are we watching them! Here's a video of one of their favorite new things about the condo, a tinted sliding glass door that they move back and forth in and out of. We have a hard time keeping this door closed without one or both of them crying how much they want the freedom to go in and outside! Enjoy!

Sunday Funday

So, a quick little video of the boys at play. Jude especially has become more fascinated by the leapfrog learning table, and it shows in his dancing and clapping to the thing as he plays with it too =) They're also beginning to respond to requests very well and can put away their toys into the proper places (most of the time)! Ahh.. life is exciting with the boys.

Eli and Jude at the playground

The day was pretty nice today, a bit hot but very sunny. I decided it would be a great time for a park trip! The boys have been mostly restless for the last couple of weeks with Alex recovering from surgery, especially when it was rainy and nasty outside, so I figured a trip to the park would be a wonderful excursion for the little guys to get some energy out.

So, we packed up the stroller and a little cooler full of snacks and drinks for our hour-long sojourn to the apartment complex's playground. I really can't stress enough how convenience this playground is for us; the boys love to go there every time, and I think they might even enjoy it more than swimming in the pool, which is good since Alex can't get in the water yet (shortly she'll be able to though)! As you can see in the video, the little explorers are into all of the environment, not just the playground equipment, so we were constantly having to run into the woods chasing after our little questers. They certainly have picked up on how we move as well; I rarely see them moving together, more often than not attempting to separate us in an attempt to break free and explore where we're not letting them go. Such is the life of a baby I suppose, but it certainly makes it much harder for us to keep tabs on them every second of the day!

As you can see by the second video, the boys are successfully starting to master stairs. This worries me a bit as well, mainly because i think it is giving them the idea that they can explore them by themselves, without any help from us. They are certainly enjoy expressing their independence: Alex gets frustrated at this because when she wants to hug them, they oftentimes don't want to hug and sometimes run up to her and then run back to whatever they are doing. Our little ones are starting to grow up right in front of our eyes.

I hope next week to take a video of the boys swimming with Skylar and Sydney, if they're able to come over for a dip in the pool. Our success with their swim training is limited at the moment; the last time we went swimming with them, the boys learned to kick their feet while being suspended in the water and are learning to blow bubbles more in the water. Next time, I'd like to get them to dunk their heads under water for a second and learn to hold their breath. If anyone has a suggestion for a good swim instruction book though, I'd be more than happy to take a read; leave a comment for me and I'll look up the book.

Anyway, here are the videos. Enjoy!

iPhone 4 and the boys

So, our photogenic babies seem to have a 6th sense on when they're being filmed. I was playing with my iPhone out in front of them for a couple minutes before I started filming this little video, and the boys only came up to me when I started the camera up! So Weird! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy; I've got to get back to playing with my iPh.... I mean making the boys' lunch ;-)

PS: The video is compressed for YouTube, so don't mind the quality; the phone takes GREAT raws.

Extreme Fun!

Yesterday we went to Extreme Fun near our house - an inflatable play-land for kids under 10 - with Auntie Skylar, Auntie Sydney, and Lolli. The boys had lots of fun running around the toddler area and sliding down the back of the fire engine. There was also a steering wheel in the police boat that they'd sit at for what seemed like forever! Auntie Skylar was very disappointed that she wasn't allowed in the toddler area but Auntie Sydney had a great time sliding and chasing Eli and Jude. We tried to take the boys into one of the bigger inflatables they had so Auntie Sky could bounce with them, but the poor little guys couldn't climb up the ladder to the top of the big slide so we pulled them out.

Twinkie Madness!

Hello faithful blog-readers! Sorry to have not posted this week, I was planning to do a couple of posts but I was just too loopy from the pain meds to write anything coherent or worth reading. : )

For all who were curious, my surgery went very well. I am still recovering but the worst is over. Immediately after surgery, I did feel relief from the stabbing pain down my left leg that I've felt all day, every day for a couple of years. It has been very nice. Obviously, I am still in some pain but it's from the incision and also from my nerve recovering. I have some neuropathy (pins, needles, and numbness) in my left foot which is annoying more than painful, but the doctor says this is a normal symptom of the nerve healing. It should get slowly better and then go away in the next few weeks. The difficult parts are my restrictions - no lifting, bending, twisting, and sitting for more than an hour. I'm not the best patient, but I'm trying hard to follow my instructions and heal quickly.

Now for the fun stuff! Memorial day weekend was pretty low key for us. We went to a barbeque with friends on Monday and stayed for a couple of hours but I was having a hard time keeping up with Eli and Jude so we thought it would be best to head home early. We ended up having dinner at Plucker's Wing Bar and took their signature Fried Twinkies home for dessert. I thought for sure Eli and Jude would go to town on their halves (there's no way I would give them a full fried twinkie each, I don't think an ADULT even needs a full one) but they were pretty skeptical of them. I started taking a video of them while eating because I thought it would be hilarious to watch them try to scarf these delicious morsels down but little did I know that the REALLY good video would be the post-twinkie aftermath... See for yourself!

Smarter Than Cats?

So, Travis's Uncle Mike once told us shortly after the babies were born to alert him when we thought Eli and Jude became smarter than cats. He claimed that babies and cats are both inherently smart but cats are more advanced than babies for a short time at the beginning of their lives. We told him that we thought Eli and Jude surpassed cats when they could walk... but then they still do things like this...

PLAYGROUND on 3/27/2010!

So Alex, Eli, Jude and myself went to the playground today, and had tons of fun. The day was pitch perfect, with sun all around and not a cloud to be seen for miles. The boys sure enjoyed the heck out of it and were really psyched to see everything. At the end of this post, I'll post all the videos about it.

Also, in the unfortunate category of news.. Jude smashed his left index finger in with the door to our foldable chair/table set. It's mainly my fault; I walked away for a second to check on the video encoding (see below), thinking the boys certainly wouldn't get into too much trouble in one minute playing in the dining room (big mistake) when I heard Alex asking Jude if he was okay. I rushed out to the dining room just in time to hear a monstrous scream he must have been holding back for a while erupt from the poor baby's mouth. I was panicked at this point, feeling guilty that I left him alone and frustrated at myself for being so stupid. Fortunately, Alex assessed his injury and we think, right now, that its just going to be bruised in the morning. He could move the finger easily and was picking things up, eating, and sucking on it for a bit without pain, so I imagine it looked worse than it was in reality. I hope that's the case!

Anyway, enough of my rambling: Here are the videos:

Eli and Jude Swinging:





Eli and Jude on the Playscape Part 1:



Eli and Jude on the Playscape Part 2:



Eli and Jude on the Football Field:



And as a special treat: Me reading Moo, Baa, La La La to the boys and them answering with the animal noises! Our babies are so smart =)

Bathtime at Grandma's, Feb. 14, 2010

Late video #1: Babies first snow!

Late video #1: Babies first snow!

the camera loves them and they LOVE the camera!

I couldn't help myself, Eli and Jude were just being too cute today and I took a couple of videos. The problem? Anytime I take out the camera/phone, they quit doing what I thought was cute and do something else. Luckily, it normally works out. In the first video Eli decides that he wants the phone (probably to eat it) and will stop at nothing to either get into the shot or make a grab for it. He's such a a little ham! In the second video, they decided to run up and down their "new" hallway - their favorite new pastime - pushing their retro rockets. There are a few close calls where I was afraid Eli almost got run over but there are thankfully no tears. Enjoy!

You thought the last video was cute?

Wait until you see this one! I was in the kitchen getting the boys' lunch prepared when I heard them running and giggling hysterically in their "new" hallway. Luckily, I had my handy-dandy cell phone (I love Blues Clues, can you tell?) in my pocket and managed to catch some of their silliness on video. They weren't as hysterical as when I wasn't watching them, but they're still pretty goofy in the clip. This is what they've been doing every day since the hallway became open to them. Also, look for Eli testing our yarn baby-proofing solution for the laundry room. Eli also demonstrates one of his new tricks - getting onto his retro rocket by himself! Nevermind that he's on it backwards... : )

Adorableness!

Not much has happened of note since the last time I posted. Travis, Eli, Jude, and I went to the park again today and had a grand old time. The boys were much more enthusiastic and excited than the last time, possibly because there were so many other children there today. We went down the slide a few times, played on the swings, climbed through a tunnel, and ran through the grass. Fun was had by all. : )

After we got home, the boys were just being too cute. So I took a short video of their silliness with my cell phone. It's not the best quality video but they're cute anyway.

After naps (and the video) we went to kid's eat free night at Applebee's and the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. All in all, a good day.