Soldiering On

I won't go into my love of all things technical and how easy they make our lives...our big computer is running wonderfully (thank you Kevin!) but it is upstairs and I don't get here very often. Even now I hear the babies waking up and this post is going to have to wait because "baby computer," my little net book hasn't been working for weeks. And now to the point! The boys.

Is it silly that as we approach the 25th I become a little anxious and maybe a twinge depressed? I begin to understand why the holidays are so tough for so many people. Allow me to say, we received the best presents possible last year and I haven't lost sight of that, but the way they arrived wasn't exactly the best...and so, yes, Christmas last year sort of stunk. And as we approach the first anniversary of Sam and Liam's birth, I remind myself that this is a wonderful event and that we have come so far, and I do my best to ignore the sour feeling in my stomach and the elephant on my chest and the tears that keep welling up in my eyes that my instincts (emotions? not sure of the best word for it here) have decided to gift me with this year. So we'll move on to the good stuff!

Sam has decided to give us one of the best gifts possible for Christmas, forward motion! He has become so tired of watching  his brother move around so much that he has begun to "crawl". Just this week he has begun getting up on his hands and knees and rocking! (Liam began rocking in early September). Before we had to force Sam to his knees and hold him there ignoring the screaming so that he would build up the right muscles. Recently one of Ben's employees cleaned out her basement and brought us some wooden puzzles and they are the boys' new favorites. Sam loves it when I stack up the square pieces and let him knock them over to a raucous cry of "uh oh!" The first time this brought uncontrollable laughter (from Sam) and it was AWESOME. He still likes to do it, but now I only get grins. So it was with these blocks that I motivated him to do some forward movement, and we went all the way from one side of the living room to the other with me stacking blocks and Sam creeping forward like a soldier. He pulls with his left arm and pushes with his right leg as he uses his bent right arm as a sort of lever underneath himself. It is pretty funny, and pretty wonderful. Yesterday he began creeping across the floor on his own (without the block stacking motivation) and he is rocking on his hands and knees with greater and greater repetition.

Sam's little brother Liam is also moving and shaking. His favorite game is to leave the living room and head to the dog bowls in the hallway. He always stops and looks back when he is halfway there to check on our progress, determining how far he is going to get before we come to snatch him back up. He is  pulling himself up and learning to walk along the couch and other obstacles to get at toys (or dad's glasses). He is also experimenting with standing without aid. He lasts longer and longer between the moment when he lets go of whatever he has a hold on and the moment when his rear end meets the floor in a heavy thump. Needless to say, his poor head is covered in bruises. The firsts of many. And his personality is beginning to shine.

I have mentioned before that Liam doesn't seem to be as social as Sam. When playing in "The Baby Cage" as Ashley so loves to call it, Sam gravitates towards the books and stuffed animals while Liam goes straight for the balls. Every time one of us does something to make him laugh, he looks immediately away. But this week whenever I get the camera out, he looks at me with a scrunch nosed grin. Of course my child should know how to pose for pictures before the age of one! This has also led to a never-ending stream of The Ramones "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" playing in my head, replaced with the words "Liam is a Nose Scruncher." I think you may be able to hear the Ramones sing it here; the version in my head is likely to stay there.

We are really and truly looking forward to our first Christmas at home with the boys sans incubators and tubes and wires and fear. I think that we will probably give them cupcakes on Christmas Day to mark the day of their birth, but we still plan to really party on March 3 because that is the day they came home.

I hope that you all have fabulously wonderful Christmas Holidays and thank you again for all the love and support that you have afforded us this year.

And now for your viewing pleasure:

Sam and Liam's first co-bath, possible now that they both sit so steadily :)

The Christmas Babies meet Santa Claus

Santa hoping against hope that his beard stands up to these two

 We have recently reconnected with my cousin Paige (mom's first cousin) and it turns out that he and his family live just a mile from our new home, and yet we still have trouble getting together. His lovely wife Jodi invited us to accompany them when they took their daughter Moira to see Santa at the Botanical Gardens Saturday. Unfortunately Ben had to work, so Paige was once again disappointed that he hasn't met him yet. I asked mom to come and help me wrangle the boys and the stroller and all of the accoutrement necessary for such an outing.


The boys were really well behaved right up until the end when they were hungry. I think that they just did not know what to think of all the people and they were having fun with their cousin Moira who kept giving them hugs and kisses. She is expecting her little brother Finn to arrive in the next few months, so she needed practice being nice to boys.

Moira warmed up a little more quickly than Liam

And when our turn with Santa finally arrived, mom and I thought it best to back them in since they have recently displayed a fear of facial hair with Uncle Ked and Uncle Scott. They did really well...but we failed to receive smiles.

Sam continuing to show his love of hair. I don't know if I should be happy or sad that I chopped mine :)

Sam and Santa and Liam

Moira learning how to be a good big sister and spread the love.

 I think that Sam may have asked for his two front teeth. Liam's top two teeth poked through this week for a grand total of FOUR teeth...and I think Sam might be a little jealous. Liam might have asked for a brother that doesn't cry when he tries to use him to push off of to stand up; but I could be wrong.

Paige, Quinn, Jodi, Jeanie, Sam, Moira, and Liam.

 Overall, I think that our first trip to visit Santa was a giant success. Thank you Jodi for inviting us or I may have overlooked this tradition. I hope we are able to go back next year with Finn added to our group, and perhaps Ben will be able to make it then too. I look forward to comparing their Santa pictures from year to year.

Ginger Liam

Ginger Sam

Samich and his little brother Dozer

It has come as something of a pleasant surprise that currently Sam seems to be our more cerebral child.  He is more vocal and uses many different sounds, he also learned to play "peek-a-boo" first. It was a wonderful day when I looked down at him in his vibrating bouncer chair to see him pulling the blanket up and down over his face and when I came up with the appropriate words, his actions matched. It was glorious! Recently Sam learned to wave at us, and he seems to study his toys and his surroundings and peoples' faces much more closely than his brother.

Liam is much more advanced in the physical aspects of being a baby. He started rocking on his hands and knees in August and has been moving forward since September, but in the past two weeks his "worm" crawl has turned into a classic crawl and in the past week he has begun pulling himself up to a standing position while holding on to various objects. Sam gets around pretty well by rolling and he gets up into a cobra position that is more and more stable, but he can't seem to get his knees to work properly and it is taking him longer to fine tune his motor skills. So Samich has become a bit of a speed bump for his brother who wants to go where he wants to go no matter what is in his way. So it seems that Liam has gone from "Scooter" to "Dozer" this week.

We have been sick here this week and so we haven't taken any pictures or accomplished much of anything. The boys had their check up yesterday and they just have colds, but we get to do breathing treatments anyway! Woo Hoo! Their current stats you ask? Samich weighed in at 19 lbs 5 oz. and Liam at 20 lbs. 12 oz. I could have sworn that the gap in their weights was widening...Liam feels sooo much heavier and solid, but the discrepancy actually seems to have become smaller. We also spoke to the doctor about table foods because the boys are increasingly interested when we eat. Often they watch us chew and move their mouths in the same ways. The pediatrician said that table foods would be fine and I asked if we should watch for salt or anything of that sort, and he said he wouldn't worry about it.

Ben worked late last night, so mom and dad came over to help me administer the breathing treatments (which actually went better than last time) and I went and picked up Chipotle for all of us. The boys were definitely interested in what we were eating...so I smushed a black bean in my fingers and let them have a go. They LOVED them. They were also fond of bits of rice and fingers of guacamole :) Mom said something along the lines of "Geez, their first real taste of table food and we are feeding them beans and rice"...but I reminded her that they were grown on black beans with cholula and lime white rice with cilantro. I was working at a Mexican restaurant and that was what sounded good more often than not (it was also quite affordable). And then there is always the simple fact that these are Ben's children. Of course they love Chipotle!