Thanksgiving Day

Here are a few pictures from our very busy Thanksgiving day. We fit three families into one day. It was very busy and tiring, but it was good. Normally we would only do one or two families but I had some family from Colorado that wanted to meet the twins. So we started off our day hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Friend at their house. Sadly, Kyle couldn't make it since he was recovering from a double ear infection, strep throat and scarlet fever. Yuck! Jack was disappointed, but he still had a good time. After lunch we packed up and drove to Roberts to see my mom's side of the family. Then in the late afternoon we packed up again and drove to Champaign to see my dad's side of the family. My dad rented a wheel chair accessible van so that my grandma could join us this year. It was the first time that all the grandkids and great grandkids were together. So that was a lot of fun and enjoyable for my grandma. We did our best to get a few good pictures, but you know how it is with little ones. After hanging out for a while we packed up again and drove back to Morton. Once we unloaded kids and got them into bed, Megan and I got back in the car and picked up my mother-in-law to go shopping at Babies R Us. That didn't really pan out as expected though. I figured they would be busy, but I had no idea we wouldn't be able to get in! We stood in an incredibly long line, in the very cold outdoors for around 30 minutes before we reassessed the situation and determined it would be another hour before we could get in the store. We didn't that was worth it so we got back in the car, picked up some hot chocolate and headed home. It was sooo cold, and we were not prepared. I borrowed mittens from the lady ahead of us in line. Megan put Paul's rain coat over her dress coat she had on. I wrapped a sheet around my head and upper body. That's all was could find in the car, it was lovely. Megan said she wanted an adventure and I think we had one.

The twins with Papa.

Kaia loves babies. She was so thrilled I let her hold Logan.

All the great grandkids on the Vest side. Kaden, Dawson, Micah, Logan, Hailey, George, Jack and Schaeffer.

All the great grandkids with their great grandma.

Iowa Visit

Last Tuesday we took a day trip to Iowa to visit Megan and George. I had been promising to come up and decorate George's nursery with some cute vinyl pieces I'd made. I used her crib bedding to create a lion, elephant, monkey and letters for the walls. Then I used my Cricut to cut everything out. I had never done multi-color pieces before so I wasn't sure how it would go. But it all turned out super cute and though I did have to redo a few pieces it went better than expected. After I finished putting everything up we headed back home. But Megan had generously offered to keep Jack for the night since they were coming to Morton the next day. So he got to have a fun evening with Dennis, Megan and George. Then on Wednesday Megan took him to the John Deere headquarters where he got to climb in a bunch of tractors. Of course he loved that. He had a great time and Megan said he was really good!

A Crafty Thanksgiving

I'm a little behind on my postings! We've had a busy Thanksgiving season full of crafts and family and shopping. Jack and I have been doing a lot of crafts lately, some to make cute things and others just to practice different skills like cutting and gluing. Jack loves to cut strips of paper into smaller pieces and I finally figured out how to use all those scraps. I let him practicing gluing for the first time and he did a great job gluing his scraps onto a paper plate in an abstract design. We also had a craft night with Kyle and Nicole. The boys helped make a centerpiece for our Thanksgiving table and place cards too. I made the yarn ball turkey with hopes that perhaps it could be used year after year. Then the boys decorated feathers for the turkey and told us what they were thankful for. My favorite when Kyle blurted out that he was thankful for roller coasters. The boys loved using the glitter paint I had found. They also helped make the pilgrim hats that we used for place cards. I put glue on a paper plate and they dipped their cup into the glue then put it on a paper circle. They thought that was a lot of fun too. They did a really good job with the crafts. Now I'll have to figure out something fun to do for Christmas.

Monday Pictures-Week 19

We've had such a busy week I'm trying to remember what's new with the twins in their 19th week. Their night sleeping was so great this past week. Eating at 8 and going right to bed, then not up again until 5. Of course with everything going on over the weekend that has gone out the window and Logan is back to getting up several times a night for some reason. I'll be grateful when a good night's sleep is something I can count on, not just something that might happen. Logan started rolling over from his back to his tummy this week. He actually has done this before just very rarely and never when anyone was watching. But as of Tuesday he rolls over frequently and has pretty much joined Schaeffer in being a tummy sleeper. Schaeffer is actually becoming someone mobile. He started doing this schooching thing this past week. He gets his belly off the ground and puts his head down and pushes himself forward. For his age it's pretty impressive and makes me wonder if crawling is coming sooner than I'd thought. I guess we'll see. For now I don't have a picture of the boys together. The ones I took didn't turn out. So I'll try again tonight and hopefully add to my post.

Monday Pictures-Week 18

Look at these boys. They are getting so big and so full of personality. Although I guess "big" is a relative term. My boys are actually quite small. In fact, smaller than I had hoped they were. We had their 4 month check up this morning and while going in I had no doubts that they had grown so much, the scale told a different story. Surprisingly, Schaeffer and Logan both weigh less than Jack did at this age. Jack was 10 pounds 11 ounces and I'm sure we were so excited when we saw those numbers for Jack. Today Schaeffer was 10 pounds 10.5 ounces and Logan was 10 pounds 5.5 ounces. And I was so surprised they weren't bigger. I hadn't even considered that they might be smaller than Jack. They seem so much bigger to me. So while there is nothing to be concerned about I found myself sad. As their sole source of nourishment I feel like I must be letting them down in some way because if I were doing my job they would be bigger. But I know that I am doing my best and they are growing and thriving in so many ways. They are both so strong, just like their big brother. Apparently we just make skinny, little babies who happen to be incredibly strong and completely adorable. 

My Mushy Brain

I am so frustrated with myself. Somehow my dates and days have gotten really messed up in my head for this  week. I thought today was the 19th but turns out that is tomorrow. Also turns out that the boys vaccinations are on the 19th. Since I thought today was the 19th and vaccinations have always been on Thursdays, I was sure today was shot day. So sure, in fact, that after feeding the twins this morning I rushed to get everyone out the door so we could get to the health department pronto. As soon as I pulled in the parking lot I started wondering if I was confused. The lot just didn't seem as full as normal. So I called the health department and sure enough this month their clinic got moved to Friday (the 19th). Doh! Means I have to do it all again tomorrow. At least I had their phone number so I didn't have to unload everyone to go in and find out I was confused. So frustrating! I hate not being on top of things mentally. In my previous life as a non-mom I would have known exactly what day to be somewhere and I would have been there 20 minutes early. Now I'm lucky to get anywhere on time and apparently lucky to get anywhere on the right day.

Two Feathered Friend

For a while now I've been thinking that I need to do more structured activities with Jack. So I've been gathering supplies and ideas to begin doing crafts. I even started a new blog as a place to store any good idea I come across. That way I'll have a collection to "flip" through whenever I need a good idea. When Amanda said she and the kids were coming up for the day I thought it would be a great time to do our first craft. We made ourselves come very cute turkeys. I had such a hard time letting the kids to the work! I kept wanting to step in and help Jack so that it would turn out cute. My perfectionist tendencies really have to be kept in check with kids crafts and it is hard! I tried to let Jack make his own feathers but his disinterest was frustrating so I helped a little. And while I wanted to make some extra feathers to "fill in" his nearly featherless bird, I refrained. (I know I could have made some really spectacular feathers.) It was also difficult to hand over the blue crayon when he was supposed to be coloring the turkey brown. I suppose he was just being creative. Overall the kids did a great job and the turkeys look super cute. Jack enjoyed the gluing part of the craft and the coloring. When I told them I wanted to take their picture they were more than willing to show off their handiwork for the camera.

Monday Pictures-Week 17

Not a whole lot new here. Though by the end of this week Schaeffer and Logan will be 4 months old! While it's hard to believe they are getting so old...this month also seemed to creep by. I'm sure the next few will fly with the holidays and all. We go to the doctor next Monday, so hopefully they'll check out well. 

He Kicked the Habit

If you know Jack you know he LOVES his pacifier. The pacifier was a life saver when Jack was a baby and while I vowed he would give it up by his first birthday...he did not. I'm quite certain that he could have done without his pacifier much earlier and had I taken it away when he was one, he probably would have done fine. The thing is, I was addicted to the pacifier. Those moments when peace and quiet was what I needed I could count on that pacifier to meet my needs! Earlier this summer we actually came really close to having this habit kicked. Jack was doing a really good job at leaving his pacifier in his bed and only using it at nap time and bed time. But then the twins came along. You hear people talk about older children regressing with a new baby (babies) around and that's pretty much what happened. He saw the pacifiers for the twins (that looked just like his) and we did not have the energy to stick to our guns and keep the pacifier out of his mouth. But as of Sunday the pacifier is gone. Cold turkey, just like that. He's not using it during the day or even when he sleeps. He threw it in the garbage tonight and traded it in for something better...monster trucks. Perhaps he'll need some toddler friends to commiserate with or a "Pacifier Anonymous" group to help him through those moments when all he can think about is sucking on some plastic. But I think he'll be ok. And now when he asks for a pacifier he does so with a grin on his face, knowing good and well that those days are behind us, but checking just to make sure.

Monday Pictures-Week 16

Schaeffer and Logan are 16 weeks old today. They are doing so well. We've completed two weeks of sleep training and I'm quite happy with the results. Some naps they do awesome and some naps they do terrible, but overall they are doing great. Usually within 20 minutes both boys have fallen asleep without any help from me or a pacifier. I'm trying really hard to avoid the pacifier since we all know how addicted Jack is to his (that's for another post in a day or two). Every once in a while someone will need a little help but usually they don't and it seems like the crying is becoming at least a little bit more minimal. As for how long they stay asleep, I see no rhyme or reason. Sometimes the both sleep an hour or longer. Sometimes one sleeps a long time and the other sleeps 20-30 minutes. But they are getting better overall. Their nights are ok. We get up once a night to feed them. I still think they should be sleeping bigger chunks than they are, but getting up only once is so much better then twice or more. So we'll just keep working on it. Outside of the napping they are doing great. They are grabbing at toys a lot more. Shoving hands, blanket and toys into their mouths. Schaeffer is quite chatty and spends most of the day on his stomach. Logan loves to look at himself in a mirror. He just stares at himself and grins, probably cause the dude looking back at him is so adorable :) I've been practicing their sitting but we still have a ways to go before they master that. They are starting to notice each other more. When they look at each other they smile and if they are laying next to each other they often play with each other's hands. And they love their big brother. When he plays with them they just stare and grin like he's the coolest thing. I look forward to seeing their relationships grow.

Fall Frenzy

What can I say, we miss our friends from the Palatine a great deal! That's why we decided to make a day trip on Saturday to attend our former playgroup's Fall Frenzy party. I'm so glad we made the effort. Jack had a lot of fun playing with his buddies and Paul and I really enjoyed catching up with our friends. Meghan, Lisa and Prudence did such an awesome job planning and throwing this party. Jack had a great time painting his pumpkin. Apparently his favorite color is blue because he used a lot of blue on his pumpkin. It's actually still not dry, two days later. We made the most of our trip and after the party went to our storage unit and house to pack up more things to bring to Morton. We ended up with a van completely full of stuff. Jack also got a chance to say goodbye to the house. He still talks about Jack's house a lot and how he wants to go home to Jack's house and things like that. So we took him over and tried to explain the best we could that we didn't live there anymore. I'm sure he's still confused since many of our things are still there. But hopefully he understands at least a little. At the time I think he was more interested in getting back to the Lyon's house to play with Darby and Elena more. 

Jack and his buddy Caleb

Caleb, Jack and Cora playing football

the blue pumpkin

Monday Pictures-Week 15

As I'm trying to get this done both boys are crying in their crib, so I'm trying to write quickly. We've been sleep training and crying in the crib has become all too common place. Week 1 went well and so far it seems as though it will be better than week 2. Go figure. The first day both boys screamed for an hour then slept for half an hour. I counted that a success because the both fell asleep without me holding them. Within a few days both had fallen asleep without my presence and that was a wonderful thing. And sometimes they fall asleep without pacifiers. Very cool. Schaeffer napped wonderfully this past week. Logan, however, is a 30 minute napper and we have to work on that. Their night sleeping improved as well. We went from getting up at least twice a night to eat to getting up once a night to eat. Outside of getting up for food they seem to be waking up less which is wonderful. I'm trying to stay cautiously optimistic about these things as this week is a multiple of 3 and that seems to be the magic number for when my kids change everything I knew about them. In other news from the past week. Schaeffer is a master at rolling over from his back to stomach and will do so almost anytime he is laid down on his back. And Logan is as smiley as ever. That's all the time I have for now, though I feel like there is so much more I could say.

Schaeffer

Logan

Schaeffer and Logan