1.02 2011 Year Review

By Cyndi
December 26, 2011

As this year comes to a close, I have been thinking back to what we survived and how 2012 will be different.  Let me try to give you some perspective on our lives during 2011 with some numbers (I am an engineer!):

• We have changed over 2000 diapers per child. At around $0.15 / diaper (when I have coupons and a sale), that's over $600 in diapers.  I can't wait until they are potty trained, but then I might need house cleaners to clean up their mess!
• We have recorded over 1450 feedings for each child.  We have an excel spreadsheet that we record by mL how much they eat at each feeding (since mid-February).  Why you ask?  We are not crazy. Since late February, we offer 9oz at every feeding and allow them to eat as much or as little as they want.  Matt has them in the morning, daycare for the afternoon and I do their evening bottles.  The log helps so we know how their day has gone.  As we transition to whole milk & sippes, we will stop recording how much they drink.
• Matt has averaged working an 8 hour overtime shift every other week for the entire year (I think the actual count is 28 - 8hr OT shifts).  While it hasn't been easy on either of us, we've made it work.
• We've soaked and hand washed bottles over 300 times this year.  Hopefully with sippies, we won't have to do it every day anymore.
• We've spent enough money on daycare this year to have bought another car.  We are thankful that it is only part-time or it would have been enough for an SUV.
• Tyler & Zach have flown 4 times this year, more than most infants I know and two of those flights were in business!  We've gone to Chicago twice, Phoenix & Dallas. Sadly, since we haven't bought them tickets, they haven't started to earn miles yet, but soon enough! 
• Matt has bathed the boys every single time this year, except once.  I made a huge mess with the infant tub and have been banned from this activity until further notice.
• Until the boys started finger foods, I made 90% of all their fruit & vegetable purees myself.  It was fun and I am glad to have given them natural homemade food.
• (Here's one I probably shouldn't admit publicly but ...), Since the boys have slept through the night around 3 months old, I can count on one hand the number of times we have had to console/help them in the middle of the night.  We are extremely lucky.  Like their momma, they love sleep, but still, we are so incredibly lucky.
• We have taken over 4000 pictures this year.  The shutterfly photobook I am preparing is 50 pages for 2011.  It is so hard to pick since there are so many good pictures and memorable moments.
• For T&Z to go to Purdue in 18 year from now, we would have to save $1000 per month.  Let's just say we haven't been able to do that, but we'll work up to that amount. Donations accepted.

Meigs

Zach

Tyler

Bathtime!

1.01 Hanukkah begins

By Cyndi

December 20, 2011

What a busy, fun, crazy week it has been! Tyler is still pulling up and even doing a little furniture cruising. He's had a few falls, but hasn't every kid at this stage? He pulled up at the oven, while Matt was changing Zach and the oven came open and down Tyler went. He was fine and now the oven is locked all the time. Zach is still only on his knees with one foot out, but hasn't pulled up yet. I'm sure he will soon enough.

On Saturday night, Matt & I had a date night with our friends / neighbors the Isaacs. Our awesome high school babysitter watched the boys. We went into DC for dinner, dessert & drinks. It was a great night out!

And tonight was the National Menorah Lighting, one of my favorite days all year. Matt proposed 5 years ago between the lighting and dinner. This year the boys get to experience it!

T&Z had their 1 yr appointment with no shots, since Zach spiked a fever a few hours before it. We'll go back in January and see our favorite Dr. S for their shots. T is 22lbs & Z is 22lbs 3oz. They are still around 40% for head circumference & weight, and 80-90% for height! We are transitioning to whole cow's milk and next week will try to move to all sippies and no bottles.

And now, what you've been waiting for ... PICTURES!

1.0 ONE YEAR OLD!!!

By Cyndi
December 13, 2011

We've made it!!  I can't believe it.  It is increadibe how fast the year went by.  We had some pictures taken by a local photographer and here are a few to share.  More to come when we get to see the rest.  The shirts we are wearing were made for T&Z's birthday!

We had a fabulous party with family and friends on Saturday.  We received great gifts!  We were missing a few good friends, but we'll celebrate with them soon :)

Here are the 12 month memories:

• Bottles: Same as 10 months, 4 bottles.  The morning bottle is a sippy.  We will be transitioning to whole cow's milk and then work to transition off bottles to all sippies. 
• Schedule: No change here ... 730a to 630/7p, with two naps
• Solids: 3 meals per day and all finger foods.  The only thing the boys get pureed is foods we would eat like that (ie. applesauce & yogurt).  No allergies yet.
• Movement: Tyler is pulling up to a standing position on everything and able to climb up a stair to the landing near our front door.  Zach is only on his knees, but seems close to pulling up to his feet.
• Clothes: 18 month onesies are tight &12 month pants.
• Diapers: Size 4.
• Fine Motor skills: Fine tuning the pinch grasp, but nothing beyond that yet.
• Gross Motor skills: Sadly, the jumpers have been put to rest.  They didn't enjoy them, so we now have a pack n' play ball pit and space for them to crawl around.
• Language:  Zach loves to say GA!  They both babble when they wake up and continue while they are playing.  They have also started some screeching sessions which is just lovely for my ears.
• Teeth:  Tyler has 7 (top four, bottom three), Zach has 6 (top four, bottom two & one close).  Note: T had 5 last month & Z had 3 ... wow, that's a lot of teeth in two months!
• Interaction:  They love to follow each other around and grab each other's toy.  They watch one another and during meals will sometimes try to grab food from the other's tray!  

Happy  Birthday Tyler and Zachary!!

51 Weeks Old ... Help Me ....

By Cyndi
December 5, 2011

I am not ready for this ....

Tyler did this all by himself!!

Enough said since there will be lots to say next week!!

50 Weeks Old, Sweet Home Chicago

By Cyndi
November 29, 2011

Well, we survived our week "vacation" to Chicago.  It is very hard to summarize the trip besides, awesome & exhausting.

Besides the 70+ chosen pictures posted to Shutterfly (on the right ----> ) out of 344 total, here's the best summary I could compose below:

My high school friends, Marisa, Erin & Ben

Saba

The Alderson, Quinlan, & Fromm clan

Surprise guest, Lynn with Annie & Kate (family friends of Matt who he grew up with)

Debbie, Rob & Miss Edy who we finally got to meet

College fraternity brother of Matt, Andrew Carmean (referance any post from Matt) making Zach laugh

My boys and I on my 31st birthday!!

Grandkids and Great-Grandkids all together!!

And my favorite picutre of all ......

Until next week ........... (are we seriously two weeks away from their first birthday?!?!!!)

Week 49 Leaving on a jetplane again!

November 22, 2011
By Cyndi


I don't even know where to start since the last post.  Tyler is doing much better with his rash, which we still aren't sure where/what it came from. After that craziness, I spent the rest of the week preparing for our trip to Chicago, which is where I am blogging from.  Boys were great on the flight, but it may have been assisted by our upgrade to business class, YAY!!  I am sooo thankful that in 2010, Matt flew enough on United to get the first tier of status and now we have enjoyed our third upgrade to business for free!

Best invention ever.  Carseat attaches to a wheely cart and we "dragged" them along like a suitcase!

Lie flat seat in business - strapped Zach and handed him his bottle

We are currently stationed at Saba's (my dad) and head to Nana's (Matt's mom) on Thanksgiving day for the rest of our stay.  Our visits in both places are filled with good Chicago food, friends and family and hopefully two not-so-fussy kids.  Both little guys are battling a cold which seems to be slightly on the upswing, we hope!

So far, T&Z have met two of my dad's college friends, who I've grown up seeing multiple times per year, a good friend from junior/high school & Uncle Dave and Aunt Lauren.  I'm so thankful everyone on the "schedule" is able to work around T&Z's schedule.

Enjoy some pictures and we'll post again next week with the rest of our visitors.  Once back in DC, its the two week countdown until their birthday ... seriously, we will have toddlers soon?  Can they even be called that if they aren't walking yet?

T&Z loving the sliding door while Butkus plays outside

Gemma (high school friend) holding Zach stopped by for a visit! 

Dave & Lauren with Matt & I

Uncle Dave acting crazy to make Tyler laugh

Week 48 mmmm ... some sun & fun!

November 14, 2011

By Cyndi

Well, in the past week, I've returned with some color, somewhat relaxed, and up a few pounds from enjoying lots of beverages & guacamole! Stacie, a good friend from college who is now my next door neighbor (literally we share a wall), and I went to Marina El Cid Resort and Spa in Cancun as a belated 30th birthday trip. I enjoyed two afternoons at the spa which was perfect!! Here's the summary best described in pictures:

We biked to town :) Had to get the kiddos gifts!

Swim up bar

As Matt eluded to in his post last week, Tyler and Zach are crawling everywhere all.the.time. They get up on their knees and grab stuff, but do not pull up to their feet, yet. They follow each other around and try to grab the other's toy.

Over the weekend, we had our first potential allergy "scare." We tried berries (in a puree) earlier in the week and then again on both Saturday & Sunday. I put it in quotes because Tyler only had a rash and didn't seem bothered by it at all. I called the nurses line and they said to try some benadryl and see how it goes. When Matt got them up this morning, it seemed to have gotten slightly worse, so Matt took Tyler in. The pediatrician thinks it is a topical allergic reaction and not from the berries, unless we bathed him in it. So we have a cream to put on it and hope it starts to clear soon ..... because we are leaving on a jetplane in 7 days!!!!!!

And now for some fun pictures for our 11 month pictures. Since they don't want to sit still, they are in their new chairs!

Love all my guys!!!

Week 47, Beer me!

By Matt
November 8, 2011

Flashback -- the year was 2010, sometime in the fall, after I had taken my 30th birthday trip to Vegas
Cyndi: (After some scheduling snafus) Well, it doesn't look like I'll get my birthday trip this year.
Matt: No worries, you can go next year, I'll schedule time off from work so you can do a long weekend somewhere.
C: Really, you think you can handle that?
M: Yeah, why not? Can't be too bad. If you do it sometime in summer/fall, it's not like they will be walking yet. I'm no Carmean, I can handle them.

Fast forward to about 12 weeks ago
C: So I think we're going to book the trip. Stacie said she's good for it, Todd will watch Lincoln that weekend. Sure you'll still good with this?
M: Of course. Hell, I'll even help you look for a resort and skim through reviews online. Internal thoughts, "Come on, I already feed them, bathe them, keep from putting fingers into light sockets, etc, what could possibly go wrong? [BTW, they ended up booking the resort I recommended. I rule.]

About 1 week ago
I start thinking, damn, next weekend is when it's just me and the boys, that came up fast. Those little dudes are really moving around now. And I don't often do dinner with them, hope they aren't too cranky. AND that's the weekend we turn the clocks back. Fack, this could be more than I bargained for. Shit, can I do this? Whatever, I'll have Todd next door if things really go to hell.

The day before
Shiiiiitttttt!!! Gotta go back to that old childhood mantra: I think I can, I think I can.....

All in all, this weekend has been long, but not bad. I purposely kept the guys up late on Saturday night to help with the time change. This was aided by Todd and I attempting to take all three boys out to dinner and making the assumption that 6p would be early enough to get a table without an extensive wait around here. WRONG! Folks like to get their drink on early here I guess. After we punted that idea, we returned home, I fed the guys, put them down and ran the monitor over to Todd and then hustled over to BW3s for some wings for us while he put Linc down for the night.
Sunday was more of the same with a little football watching interspersed throughout the afternoon. Sunday night, however, will be my submission for Father of the Year as we went out to eat - successfully this time - to Hooters. [If I do win for this, it must be shared with Todd as it was his idea - gotta give credit where credit is due]. There was a decent crowd, but somehow they had 3 highchairs available. Lucky us. Todd's buddy from work, Gil, also joined us, and I was thankful to have another set of hands to help; Gil was thankful to experience walking through the doors and have Hooters girls fawn over us. As we figured, the girls were in love with the boys and there was nary a minute where there was not at least one of them at the table making friends with our little guys.
Don't believe me? Check it out:

Tyler and 2 of the girls. Can't wait to show this at your Bar Mitzvah, son!

The only disturbing point of this adventure was that we were seated in the "lonely dudes" section, where the only other occupied tables each had a single dude. One was especially creepy, complete with pony tail and jean jacket, and I heard him say to one of the waitresses, "so you're off at 11?"

This morning I was scheduled for overtime at work - not sure a 6-day workweek as ever looked so inviting. Again, not to say the boys were a hassle, they just wear you out.

Some pics from the weekend:

Zachary (L) and Tyler discovering the sliding glass door/blinds

Tyler and Zach after our Sunday afternoon walk

Zach says, "What's up here, Dad?"

Yeah, yeah, I know the blog is one day late in being posted, just consider yourselves lucky that it was even written and that pictures were taken throughout the weekend. Similar to how I celebrated all my other little victories this weekend - getting them to take mostly full naps, them eating all the food I offered, complying with my wish for no diaper blowouts - it's time for a beer. Ahh, Fat Tire, you've never tasted so good. L'chaim!

Week 46, Happy Halloween

By Cyndi
October 31, 2011

We had a costume birthday party on Saturday and luckily the boys' costumes fit well, even though I hadn't tried them on beforehand!

If you need a laugh anytime this week, take a look at the pictures below! :)

Zach says mooooooooooo and Tyler says cluck cluck!

They lasted about an hour in the costumes, until they were sweating and ready to play!

Finally, we are free!

On Sunday, we ventured to a local park to take some fall portraits. Thanks to the gorilla pod & self timer, we got a few pictures that are good (about 5 out of 150 pics).

Tyler in the blue & Zach in the red

Picture fail

On Saturday, I leave for fun & sun in Cancun, while Matt stays with the boys. (Mental Note: I definitely got the better end of this deal, since when he went on his birthday vacay, I laid on the couch 7 months pregnant).

And just as a reminder .... this was a year ago .... how time flies!!!!

Till next week when I'm sunburned and ready to work only a few more days before our trip to Chicago!