37 Weeks Old & Earthly adventures

By Cyndi
August 29, 2011

Well, I never thought my weekly recap would contain how we "survived" an earthquake and hurricane all in one week.  We are fine and really went about our daily life with no real changes.

Earthquake, Mineral, VA, 90 miles south of where we live, 5.8, 8/23/11, approx 1:50pm:  Earth shook.  We stood still.  Traffic was a nightmare.  Boys napped through it.  Story Over.

Hurricane Irene, Cat 1, 8/26/11, approx 7pm:  Winds picked up slightly, rained for hours, we slept, it moved on.

All right, now that we've covered those details, we are watching Tyler and Zach progress with trying to learn to crawl.  We've seen them both get up on their knees, but come down right after that.  We are also practicing sitting up.  They still need lots of support and pillows next to them if we aren't there to catch them, but they can sit unsupported for 15+ seconds before tipping over.  Usually Matt and I laugh when they slowly tip over.  I will try to catch it on video sometime.

Tyler with his mohawk (sorry it's hard to see)

Zach almost fits into Matt's hat

We fit perfectly!!

Matt had to get in on some swinging action

Turn your volume down before listening ...

36 Weeks Old - wow, 36 weeks flies by ............................

By Cyndi
August 22, 2011

The past few weeks have been busy, but fun.  A few quick updates:

• Still only two teeth and no signs of any more, yet
• Neither can sit up yet unassisted, hopefully soon so they can play with more toys!
• No crawling yet.  They do move backwards and we saw Tyler almost scoot forward over the weekend. Soon we will have moving little ones .... oh no!
• They both LOVE fruit.  Every fruit so far has gone over very well.  Vegetables are going better than before. 

Let's discuss the Dallas trip.  Overall, we had an awesome time.  It was the first "vacation" in over a year for me (sorry but Chicago is not a vacation). Note, the story here does have a point ... read along!

The day before our flights, Matt called me at work and left a voicemail to call him back.  Not totally unusual, but I called back as soon as I could, to find out that we weren't waitlisted for first class, but confirmed.  WHAT?!?  Seriously? Can we sit there holding infants?  Matt earned premier status on United from our flights in 2010 to Vietnam, Chicago, & his 30th birthday trip to Vegas (Reminder to all, I never got a 30th  birthday trip ... I'm getting a 31st trip).  So, Friday came and we had boarding passes in-hand to first class.  It was really going to happen.  The gate agent had to work to reseat people, because again, United (with all of their amazing technology), doesn't realize when doing automatic seating that two infants can't be in the same row.  As we sat in the boarding area, Matt's phone rang and it was work.  He answered and it was his supervisor asking for our flight number.  We boarded, sat down in our cushy seats, and watched the faces of all the others boarding to see two infants in first class.

We got ourselves situated and plugged our earphones in to see if the pilot turned on Channel 9 - Air Traffic Control (unique to United).  We took off and were listening.  About 10 minutes after take off, the pilots were transferred over to Washington Center (where Matt works).  The first frequency gave us direct Little Rock.  I looked at Matt and he made a face that said, well that sounds pretty good.  After we were handed off to the third frequency, the controller said United 562, I have a message for you.  He took care of a few other pieces of business and said United 562, here is the message.  You have one of our controllers on-board.  His name is Matt Alderson, please congratulate him on his engagement.  Matt and I started cracking up.  Matt knew the voice but couldn't figure out who it was at the moment (he later figured it out).  Everyone in first class is wondering why we are laughing.  So we waited to see if the pilot was going to say anything ..... and about 10 minutes later, he came on, gave our altitude, estimated remaining flight time and then said, we must have someone special on board, because we are receiving shortcuts like we've never seen before!  Matt and I enjoyed our dinner & drinks and we landed safely in Dallas, 30 minutes early.  We waited on the plane and told the flight attendants to let us know when our stroller and car seats came up.  We waited, and waited, and waited some more and the plane was empty!  Matt went up to talk to the pilot, since they were waiting with us also, told him that he was the "the special person."  Apparently someone at Wash Center put in the comments of the flight plan that NATCA (ATC union) was onboard.  When the controller gave Matt's name, the pilot looked at the passenger manifest and saw Matt & my name, along with two infants in lap,  and wondered about the engagement part.  The other piece of info we couldn't figure out was how far down the line the shortcut put us.  Matt looked it up later and that location we were given direct to is on the arrival path to Dallas airport.  So, we went direct from IAD to DFW ... a straight line, which never happens!

Our visit was fabulous.  Michael and Ashley's house is huge, we had the 2nd floor to ourselves.  The boys slept well and behaved, not ruining any of their new furniture!  We went to where JFK was shot, enjoyed Michael's extensive beer collection & even had a night out while Ashley's aunt and cousin babysat the sleeping boys.

The flight home was again uneventful and again, we were upgraded to first class!!!  SWEET!!!  Here's some fun pictures from the past few weeks.

PS.  As of this week Thursday, the boys have been breathing air longer than they were cooking .... how fast 36 weeks 3 days goes by!!!

35 Weeks Old - 8 month memories

By Cyndi
August 17, 2011

How has life changed in the past two months ... (here is where they were at 6 months):

• Bottles: We are now feeding 4 times per day, as of two weeks ago. They are averaging 26 oz per day with 4 bottles.
• Schedule: With eating every four hours between 7a & 7p, they boys are napping twice daily for 1.5 hours each.
• Solids: We are feeding two meals per day. Fruit and rice cereal at breakfast and vegetables & fruit at dinner. So far, they are doing great and no allergic reactions to any foods.
• Movement: They love playing on their tummies and have started to scoot backwards. They roll all over and we have cabinet locks ready and gates going up around our house.
• Plagio: Done and Done.
• Clothes: 9 month onesies, at least, 12 month clothes are more the norm. These little guys are long!!
• Diapers: Size 3.
• Fine Motor skills: They are grabbing everything in sight, hair, necklaces, toys, brother's feet, anything they can reach, they try to grab.
• Gross Motor skills: About the same as before, they love jumping all.the.time.
• Reflux: They are still taking Zantac & Prevacid daily.

And for what you really want ... pictures!

Dallas & other happenings to be included in next week's blog post. Later y'all!

PHX Pictures

More will be uploaded to our Shutterfly page soon, but we had professional pictures taken of the family while in Phoenix a few weeks back.  Here's a few of my favorites from Noyan Photography .......

 

34 Weeks Old - Our Favorite Things

By Cyndi
August 8, 2010

The past week hasn't been too eventful, so I wanted to share with you some of our favorite items.  There are so many things on the market and to be honest, some are just a waste of money!

Jumperoo - worth every penny, must have!  watch on amazon, they run 30-40% off fairly frequently.  Fisher Price allows them to jump more than the Baby Einstein.

Foam Playmat - essential early on as you sit for tummy time, so much easier on your knees.  Easy to clean too!  Note: we got solid blocks because ones with letters allows for more places for them to pull it apart.

Activity Mat - great from birth until 9 months or so

Burp clothes - must around our house.  We have 60+ and great for spit ups, runny noses and any other messes they create.

Links - great to attach toys to infant carriers, activity mat & high chairs

Bibs with liner - used early on to catch the spit up so we would have less outfit changes and now used to catch all of the drool from teething!

Bottle Drying Sterilize - most people sterilize the bottles when opening and that's it.  I sterilize once per week.  With two boys drinking from them and germs from our house, day care and everything else, it takes no time with this microwave sterilizer.  Plus it doubles as extra space to dry bottles that we hand wash daily.  You can use any type of bottle.

Sleep Sacks - this is a necessity for our guys at night.  They never wanted to be swaddled to sleep, just needed to be warm.  Hopefully this winter, we can transition away from these.

Muslin cotton blankets - great to keep in diaper bag as extra burp cloth, for them to play on in a guest's house, as a blanket while out & about.  Or for a nursing mom, you can use these to cover up & they are much lighter than nursing covers.

Matt's current favorite item. No description needed, the bottle says it all

And with Matt's birthday right around the corner, whatcha think about this idea?

Editors Note:  The only exciting thing that happened this week was we dropped another bottle & a nap!  I went for it on Saturday and it turned out fairly well.  We are now feeding 4 times per day, two 1.5 hour naps and two meals.  Wish us luck that the boys stay with it!

33 Weeks Old

By Cyndi
August 1, 2011

Before I begin, where did July go? Or for that matter, June?  I can not believe its already August, Matt has another birthday in less than two weeks.  And in 3.5 more weeks, the boys will have been enjoying the world on the outside longer than they were growing in my oven.

Phoenix was fabulous.  Flights there went well, other than that we had to have people move seats because we can not sit in the same row (there is not enough oxygen masks).  Tyler & Zach did well and didn't even notice we were landing.  My aunt, uncle & cousins were able to come for the weekend also.  They were a huge help to keep the boys entertained.  My dad had picked up all the necessary large items (pack n plays, booster seats, & exersaucer), so we were well equipped when we arrived.  My grandpa showed off the boys to every resident in his building and LOVED pushing their stroller.   We had professional pictures taken and once I receive the digital images, I will post some.  The trip back was a little less smooth, with the TSA deciding to search my entire diaper bag and the boys being slightly fussy on the flight.  Everyone survived and we will be doing it again in less than two weeks to visit the Cobbels in Dallas.  Meigs had a great stay at the PetHotel and spent 3 of his 4 days there playing with other dogs for 8 hrs straight!  That's a lot of butt sniffing :)

We are back on schedule, 7a to 7p, phew.  We had been shifting the schedule for Phoenix, but being back to normal is nice.  Both boys have two teeth now on the bottom.  The first one(s) broke the gum right before Phoenix and within a day the second was right there.  They are a little fussier and have runny noses - common with teething - but no other side affects.  We are quite lucky!

The boys have been trying more and more foods.  It is certain, they like fruit!  They have yet to reject any fruit.  As for vegetables, they are hit and miss, except for sweet potatoes.  Those are a hit!

Food

Grade

Date

Apples	A	7/19/11
Bananas	A	7/25/11
Peaches	A	7/28/11

We scored a Craigslist stroller with many accessories.  Since the boys will grow out of the infant carriers any day now, we need to get moving on purchasing convertible car seats & another regular stroller.  These car seats and strollers should last for a few years!

Matt & I had our first date night since the boys were born.  We went to dinner at a fabulous restaurant, Blue Duck Tavern. Dinner was tasty and we followed it up with two desserts!  And to top off dinner, they comp'ed our corkage fee for the bottle of wine we brought!!  Then we headed to the Kennedy Center to see Wicked.  It was good, felt a little long, but that's probably because it went way past my bedtime. 

My cute date for the evening

Chocolate Cake with Makers Mark flambe and Milk & Chocolate Banana S'mores

We are continuing to baby proof the house.  The first gate is installed and functioning.  Next is baby jail, I mean baby corral, in the basement so we can start using that level of the house also.  The honey-do list never seems to end, even though items are crossed off all the time.  Off to see what the boys do next!