Fevers. Ick!

Anthony has now joined the ranks of having a fever. Nicholas had his first one last month-which thankfully Anthony did not get at that time. I can not tell you how worrisome it is when they have fevers! I do not know why it worries me so much-but it does! The poor kid! I noticed last night his head was HOT! It was weird. When i was changing him before bed, I noticed that his back/stomach were really hot. Thank goodness I took his temperature. It was 101.5! I gave him some motrin and luckily he slept through the night. He woke around 7:15am and he was on fire! The poor kid was shaking! I immediately gave him some motrin. He was sooo clingy. I could not do anything! He was on me all.day.long. His cheeks were so rosey. He was so lethargic-wouldn't eat much, and certainly didn't drink much! That was a worry!

And to top it all off-he took a 2.5 hour nap! Go figure! He naps no more than 30 minutes/day! And of course Nicholas slept for "only" an hour. No break I tell ya! Finally, around 4pm, Anthony started to act like his self-he was eating, drinking, laughing, and playing. It was great. The fever never came back-and hopefully he is better now. 

So it was quite the day-but we survived it. Nicholas was SOOO good. It's like he knows. He was so happy running around playing, playing with Sadie. He was great. All Anthony did-with me-was sit on the couch and watch Jack's Big Music Show and Baby Einstein. But gosh was he cute! Such a cuddle bug! And when Nicholas woke up from his nap-he laid on me-it was so sweet. I have the best kids-I really really do! 

Tomorrow Tony is off for most of the day(YES!). We are going out to lunch with his cousin's who are moving to Wyoming next week. So sad. Hopefully the boys will be on their best behavior! :)

Next post I need to add photos. I am trying to go to bed early tonight.... We'll see! 

16 Month Update!

The boys has their 15 month appointment yesterday(I know-a month later-I hate when that happens). Overall-everything is really good. Nicholas weighs 23.10lbs and Anthony weighs 21.14lbs. Nicholas is 31 1/4 inches tall and Anthony is 29 inches even. He's my little shorty! :) As for his head size-it's great! He is going back onto the growth curve-so that is a relief-and one that we figured was going to happen. So the Dr is pleased about that. Overall, there are no real concerns, with the exception of either of the boys talking. The Dr. seemed a bit more concerned than I thought he would be. I'm guessing maybe because they do not use "mama" and "dada" in the right context. Anthony sometimes seems to...but it's certainly not consistent. He said to contact EI and have them come out and evaluate them. I'm not overly concerned as 1.) they are twins, 2.) they are boys, and 3.) they understand EVERYTHING we say. Plus, as a teacher, I know all kids are different and learn at different rates, etc. In their own time they will talk-and once they do-WATCH OUT! The Dr. did seem rather impressed(as I think he should be!) that Anthony was pointing to various objects in the book, etc. It's really amazing to watch him find keys, balls, the dog, cat, penguin, elephant, lion, etc... And if he wants your attention while he is doing it-he practically screeches! It's quite humorous!

Overall though-the Dr. said they were excelling everywhere else, that they were growing great, look healthy, etc. So that's great. They had to have their shots-MMR and chicken pox. I will say I was VERY nervous about the MMR shot. For what reason-is beyond me, as I do NOT believe it causes autism. I think it is caused somewhat by genetics and environmental. But to pin point it on this one vaccine is crazy-because then every kid would have autism. Not the case. And-autism is higher in boys-so I think that's where my worries were! I am happy to report they had no reaction whatsoever and were relatively happy boys the rest of the day. Oh! And it was my first shots with them(besides the flu shot-that was wimpy and quick). Tony ALWAYS holds them for their shots and then I take them and comfort them. Well, Nicholas was NOT happy at being at the Drs. office, so I held him. I had to give him a bear hug while she got him in both arms. He wailed. And then calmed down and the world was right again! Tony held Anthony and he quickly calmed down as well. I will say-overall they do REALLY well for shots. Thank goodness! I would be a MESS! 

Other than that-all is well! They are just the light of our lives! They really truly are. Who knew twins could be so much fun???? :)

Smarty pants!

I have to say, I think my boys are pretty smart! I know I am their mother, and possibly biased as well...But...I still think they are rather smart! Today I brought out two puzzles. They are animal puzzles they got for their birthday-really easy to do, not a lot of pieces. Well, the last time I did a puzzle with them, Anthony just handed me the pieces and I would put them in. This time, I would give him a piece, and he would put it in the right spot! HUH? Now granted, it might not have been PERFECTLY in the right spot-but it was there! I was amazed! And it's so funny because you can see his eyes looking all over the place for the right spot. What a smarty pants. Then, he was watching Baby Einstein Baby Noah(animals). When the lion came on, he would come into to the dining room, make the lion noise, then go back and watch the video. It was sooo cute! He's such a stinker! And books...oh my goodness does he love books! He points to ALL the animals...and screeches to get your attention! It's quite funny! Nicholas also loves books and points to everything in them. 

They are 16 months old now, and no they do not talk. We do see the pedi tomorrow and we'll see if he is concerned. If he recommends EI, so be it. I am not totally concerned yet. They understand everything, and Nicholas actually has a few sounds. While reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear today, it seemed like he was trying to say the beginning sounds of some of the animals. In their own time, they'll get there. Words or no words, I still think they are little geniuses! :) 

Photos and more!

The boys are so much fun lately! Here's a "quick" rundown...

Anthony:

Anthony LOVES to help. And by I mean help, I mean CLEAN! This child certainly is NOT mine! ;) He was in the tub the other day and he was handing me the toys to put away! When the bibs, utensils, and cups are thrown from the highchair, Anthony will pick them up and come hand them to me. If he sees paper, etc on the floor-he picks it up, and will sometimes put it in the trash(he does need some help opening the drawer). He will gladly hand Nicholas his sippy cup or even a snack. He's such a sweetheart! He really is. Genuine, ya know? I didn't know they learned to do these things at 15 months old! He is also a HUGE fan of taking off his shoes and socks. I have started to not even bother putting his shoes on until we have reached our destination. Why? Because he will take them off five times before I even make it to the car, and then they will disappear once we are in the car. It's tiresome! We have arrived at various destinations with one shoe on, and one sock off. He thinks nothing of it!

Nicholas:

Nicholas is now into the "running away phase. And frankly, it's quite cute. It does get tiresome, but I don't run after him! I just wait for him to come near me and quickly grab him. If I say, "Nicholas-let's go change your diaper" he will instantly look at me, smile, and run the other way! Stinker! He also is now into climbing. He can't climb much-but he CAN climb onto the train table. Not nice! I was folding laundry one day and he was making a noise like he needed help. I was in the other room saying, "Nicholas, use your words." Well, once I finished, I walked into the playroom and there he was....Standing tall on his train table. He was making noise because he couldn't get down! I grew a lot more gray hairs that day! He is now also trying to climb the stairs-STANDING. CRAZY! How did he learn that? I certainly didn't teach him! He does well I might add. And he is also learning to hold our hands if we take him out of the stroller(only done if there are two of us). Anthony...needs some work! :) 

Tony and I say daily how amazed we are that we have two babies(toddlers, I know). It's just so amazing to think we made these beautiful babies. I am in awe everyday. I can't even begin to imagine my life without them. I would be lost. They are the best thing that ever happened to me. To us. Do you know how many times at night-AFTER they are in bed-that we say, "Let's go wake them up!" How many parents say that? And no we are not crazy! They bring just sheer joy. Amazing. 

Well I need to add some photos. Slacker. I know. I may do many posts of photos. We'll see how adventurous I get!

Anthony trying hard to put his shoes on!

         How cute is that photo???

Awww..they really do love each other!

This is what happens when you wake at 5:45am!

I asked Anthony for kisses...instead he stuck his tongue out at me(and yes I taught him that!)

Give a kid some tissue paper and he will be entertained for hours! Well..not quite. Maybe 10 minutes...

                  Too cute!

          Such a little boy!

A picture is worth a thousand words! 

         So sweet!

     How precious!

I love this photo. They were giving each other high-fives outside. It                                                   was their first time in the snow as well. 

 

FINALLY

I know I know, it's been too long! I am such a slacker! Every night I say to myself, "update the blog!" And yet-I never do! Soooo bad. Anyways-let's cut to the chase!

The boys are doing AMAZING! They are soooo much fun! Anthony is walking everywhere now. He is funny though because he walks with his hands out, like for balance. It's too funny. He's also really really really attached to me. Sometimes it makes things difficult to get ANYTHING done. I will say though, I am highly honored! He has quite the mouthful of teeth. In fact I think he has a FEW molars! I'll have to count one of these days. Still no words, but he's really good at babbling when he wants to! We are working on using plates/forks/spoons. Some days are better than others. He has the tendency to like to do things for himself. It should get interesting when he's in preschool, if not sooner! We are off ALL bottles-that was done on New Years' Eve. No problems there. Anthony is a milk-a-holic! LOVES milk. He drinks almost double what Nicholas drinks! 

Nicholas is also not talking yet, but is a proud babbler as well. I think he will be the first to talk. It's really amazing what these kids understand at such a young age. Tony and I can not believe it. We are patiently waiting for them to start speaking. I'm not too concerned, as they do understand almost everything we are saying! Nicholas can basically run. He also likes to run away if it's time to change a diaper, change clothes, etc. It's a game for him-and it's rather cute I might add! He loves to spin around with daddy and get all dizzy. Boys boys boys. Anthony is not a fan of that activity. They both LOVE books. It's great to be sitting anywhere, and have the two of them walk over to you with huge grins on their faces and a book in hand. And Nicholas HAS to sit on your lap! Adorable. 

The winter is getting long, as it's not easy going out when it's FREEZING or snowing, which is what seems to be happening a lot lately! I never minded the winter, but now that I have kids-I can't stand it. It makes for a longggggg day. Speaking of which...We are now down to one nap. We are still in the learning phase of it all, but so far, so good. For the most part...LOL! They wake around 7:30/7:45am now and go down for their nap between 12/12:30. Oddly enough they do not seem overly tired by this time. I know I am! Anthony always seems to wake within the first hour. I've let him CIO and he's gone back to sleep. Nicholas has been woken up and he too goes back to sleep. THANKFULLY! I try to sleep-but I can't. I am always thinking and waiting for one of them to wake up. Drives me batty. Hopefully soon they will BOTH get the memo to sleep for at least two hours. Once they do-I will be one happy momma!

We are needing to get creative in terms of "play." I am bored. I'll be honest. LOL! We have a ball pit now, which I am thinking probably was not the greatest idea, especially as the two of them tipped it over this afternoon and balls went EVERYWHERE. Oh yes. It was great. Also, I let them play in the fridge for a few minutes. They love it. We have tried coloring at the table-which they really enjoy. Going outside is a chore and one we have done twice. Once when daddy was home we went out in the snow for the first time. They LOVED it. Well-the sledding part at least! LOL! Nicholas wanted nothing to do with being IN the snow though! Oh well! We took them down the street twice-it was really cute! And then I took them for a walk when the temperature was over 30 degrees for a change. Anything for a change! I try to get out and about at least once a week. It helps make the day go by faster. And they like it too-I think!

As for other news...We bought a new car! Well new to us, but it's used. Tony refuses to buy a new car. I have to say-he has a point. We saved at least $10,000 by getting a car that was only 2 years old and had only 25,000 miles on it. Not too shabby. We got the Toyota Sienna AWD minivan. It was the way to go. I want convenience here! And a sliding door, as well as a car starter. Which we have! :) I also got $8,000 for my Rav4. Not a bad deal all the way around. 

AFM and the baby...Things are going well. We had the big u/s last week and all was well. I was really worried they would find something wrong, or the baby wouldn't be growing well, etc...But-all is well! I felt much better! They didn't get a great look at the heart, so we go back in two weeks. We also got a few 3D photos-which are really cool! I hope to ask for some more when we go in 2 weeks. I will have to post photos. My next posting will have to be of photos only! I am feeling the baby move more and more. However-I do not feel the baby almost the entire day. These boys keep me busy!!! I only feel the baby when I am sitting or laying down. Apparently something I do not get to do throughout the day! LOL! I still do not feel pregnant, nor have I gained any weight, nor do I think I am actually showing really. Tony thinks it's because I had the boys already, so I might not grow much. I want to look pregnant and not FAT! Geez! LOL! 

So-that's about everything in a nutshell! We get the car tomorrow, we have lots of visitors as well tomorrow...busy busy! OK. Off to do laundry and wash the floors. And then have something sweet to eat! Any excuse, right?!? OK. By Sunday, I PROMISE-photos. And lots of 'em! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! What a great year it has been. Christmas will never be the same, now that the boys are here. It was like this last year-don't worry! So bittersweet to have two beautiful, healthy, absolutely amazing boys in our life. I couldn't picture it any other way. 

Christmas Eve we hosted 11 people total, 13 if you include the boys! We had a late dinner and we ended up keeping the boys up a bit later so Grandpa Lang could see them. They did really well too seeing how they are sick, not napping well, and went to bed 90 minutes later than usual. 

We had the boys open their presents before we had dinner to get it out of the way. They were REALLY cute about it! Anthony is just like his daddy in that he LOVES opening presents! He sees a gift and charges toward it to open it! It's really cute. Nicholas likes the paper more than the unwrapping. Once he gets the paper, he starts to tear it apart, and apart, and apart! It was funny because say Nicholas is opening a gift and Anthony is as well. Well, if one sees more of the other gift than their own, they drop their gift and go to their brothers gift! Go figure! LOL! It was pretty much spend a minute or two with each gift, then they were off onto something else. They got Elmo Live from Auntie Meredith which was a hit(maybe moreso for the adults!), and Zia Jennifer got them the Little People's Airplane, BIG blocks, a sweater/shirt, and a puzzle. Grandma and Grandpa Lang gave them lots of toys as well-Curious George, a Winnie the Pooh, an Elmo CD player, a book... An endless list! They made out like bandits and Santa didn't even arrive yet! 

And the biggest news? I haven't even mentioned the biggest news yet...Anthony is WALKING! That's right! My boys pick BIG days to start really walking! Nicholas walked on October 4-which was their First Birthday Party. Anthony walked on December 24-Christmas Eve! Now he has been taking steps here and there-so we knew he was close. And then all of a sudden on Christmas Eve-he just really started walking more and more. Now-he's not doing laps around the house or anything just yet! But he feels more secure now on his feet and will definitely take a few steps-to get to someplace he can hold onto. If he falls down in the process, well-he's down and out and crawls! He's a smart cookie! But he definitely is doing a lot more of it! Such a big boy! He's an amazing kid, he really is. They both are of course! 

Christmas morning was nice and relaxing until we had to really get moving to go to Uncle Robert's in Marblehead. The boys opened a few presents, not all-as they have no clue. There are still quite a few under the tree... Tony and I exchanged presents as well. He really had me quite perplexed this year! He ended up getting me a popcorn popper(I HATE microwave popcorn), some popcorn, monogrammed comfy slippers, an ornament that reminds him of me reading to the boys, and a necklace that signifies motherhood. He did a good job! Really though-he always does! I gave him FIFA 09 for the XBOX, as well as a new controller(which he does not need), and the ipod thing for the car. He has one-but it's crappy. This one should be better. It better be at least! 

We drove off to Uncle Robert's at 9:40am. We arrived at around 12:15pm. Why so late? Nicholas got sick in the car, JUST as we were getting off the highway. The poor kid. I felt so bad for him. Not to mention-I really didn't have extra clothes-and he was COVERED-so he HAD to be changed. Thank goodness I brought their pajama's to change into otherwise-I would have  been SCREWED! The poor kid got changed in the back of the car and it was FREEZING. He was SCREAMING like when he was an infant and cold. I had to clean up the carseat and daddy changed him. We ended up changing the seat around and hope that helps it. I certainly hope so! 

After that-the rest of the day went very well. We hung out with my mom, brother, sister, sister in law, and my niece and nephew. They all opened gifts which were all a huge hit. The boys got some really nice blocks and this cool frogger jumping ride on thing! Hard to explain-but from the looks of it-Nicholas is going to LOVE it! We had a delicious dinner, wonderful dessert, and then we were on our merry way! The boys slept almost the whole way home-they were beat! They did great though all day with NO nap(Nicholas did 30 minutes on the way, and Anthony did maybe an hour) and they are sick. We got home at 7:30pm and they were in bed by 8pm, with no fight at all. My little boys are beat! 

All in all it was a great Christmas. It's amazing to think of how next year, it's going to be SO different. I wouldn't have it any other way! Motherhood is the best gift one could ever be given. 

Merry Christmas everyone! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

We want to wish Daddy/Tony a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Unfortunately he is not home with us. He is in Atlantic City for a seminar for work. He should be driving home tonight, however, our first storm of the season just dumped about a foot of snow on us, so it was best he stay one extra night than get stuck driving in crappy weather/conditions. We can't wait until he gets home tomorrow to give him his gift and hopefully go play in the snow for the first time! :) 

As for the boys and myself... We have just spent the last 3 days-ALONE! And guess what? We survived!!! It really wasn't that bad. In all honesty, it was an extra two hours in the day I was alone with them. They were great as usual. They really were. Not too fussy and all around happy. I think Nicholas might be coming down with something or he's teething. In any event, I did give him a little bit of motrin tonight. Two nights ago he woke up a lot, which made me think teething then. Who knows. Nonni came over for a bit on Wednesday, then my mom came over yesterday. Today before the storm, my mom and his mom were both here for about an hour give or take. So I did have visitors and a little help while daddy was gone. And surprisingly, I am not all that exhausted. Wonder why??

As for Anthony-he is taking more and more steps! It's crazy! He is going to be walking in no time. Scary. It's like he's not a baby anymore! And he is si proud of himself! Each day he takes another step alone...You blink and you will miss it! He really is such a joy. They both are. How did I get so lucky??

As for #3, I swear I felt him/her move yesterday! I have had a headache since Monday that comes and goes. So I bought some coca-cola and was drinking that-along with some gummi bears! ;) I sat on the couch and felt a constant twirling sensation in my lower left stomach-which is where the baby is. I felt that same sensation tonight again. So-MAYBE!!! I am 14 weeks and 2 days pregnant. My big u/s is scheduled for January 16! And NO-we are not finding out the sex at the appointment and I am beyond excited to not know! 

I just realized I had laundry to switch over/add, whatever. It never ends. However-here are some recent photos of my cuties! 

Nicholas fingerpainting/eating for the first time!

My big boy getting his FIRST haircut!

Look at those cheeks!!!! That is a banana the lil' monster shoved in                                                   his mouth!
Can we say troublemaker? Here he is...in a bucket! 

Daddy's future poker stars. 'Nough said!